Rashi
Jewish
1040–1105
“Sheshach Babylon in the ‘At-bash’ (א"תב"ש), cipher.”
From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Jewish · 2 Reformed · 1 Lutheran
“How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?”
“Sheshach Babylon in the ‘At-bash’ (א"תב"ש), cipher.”
“Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness,.... Which some understand of Babylon itself, divided into two parts by the river Euphrates running in the midst of it, called by Berosus (f) the inward and outward cities; though rather these design the rest of the cities in Chaldea, of which Babylon was the metropolis, the mother city, and the other her daughters, which should share the same fate with herself; be demolished, and the ground on which they stood become a dry, barren, uncultivated, and desert land: a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby; having neither inhabitant nor traveller; see Jer 50:12. (f) Apud Joseph. contr. Apion, l. 1. c. 19.”
“Sheshach--Babylon (compare Note, see Jer 25:26); called so from the goddess Shach, to whom a five days' festival was kept, during which, as in the Roman Saturnalia, the most unbridled licentiousness was permitted; slaves ruled their masters, and in every house one called Zogan, arrayed in a royal garment, was chosen to rule all the rest. He calls Babylon "Sheshach," to imply that it was during this feast the city was taken [SCALIGER].”
“The fearful destruction of Babylon will astonish the world. - Jer 51:41 is an exclamation of astonishment regarding the conquest of the city which was praised throughout the world. As to שׁשׁך, see on Jer 51:1 and Jer 25:26. תּהלּה, "praise," is here used for "a subject of praise and fame;" cf. Jer 49:25.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.