Jer 51:46

“because of the rumor that is heard in the land This rumor concerning Belshazzar that he was slain. for a rumor shall come one year In that very year there will come a rumor that Babylon has been destroyed by itself from heaven as it is stated: “And Babylon, the beauty of the kingdoms the glory of the pride of the Chaldee, shall be like God’s overturning of Sodom and Gemorrah” (Isa. 13: 19). and after it in a year [In] the second [year]. a rumor that is good for you [viz.] “So said Cyrus, the king of Persia..., Whoever among you of all His people...” (Ezra 1:2f). and one ruler upon another ruler Darius the Mede reigned one year, and in the second year Cyrus the Persian.”

“Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon,.... At the destruction of her, rejoicing at it; not at the ruin of fellow creatures, simply considered; but relatively, at the righteousness of God in it, and the glory of his justice, and the deliverance of many by it from tyranny and bondage. This seems to be a figurative expression often used, in which the heavens and the earth are brought in as witnesses, approvers, and applauders, of what is done by the Lord. Some indeed interpret it of the angels, the inhabitants of the heavens, and of the Jews, dwellers on earth; and others of the church of God, in heaven and in earth; which, of the two, seems best; the like will be done at the fall of mystical Babylon, Rev 18:20; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the Lord; the Medes and Persians that should and did spoil and plunder Babylon; and who came from countries that lay north to it.”

“And lest--Compare, for the same ellipsis, Gen 3:22; Exo 13:17; Deu 8:12. "And in order that your heart may not faint at the (first) rumor" (of war), I will give you some intimation of the time. In the first "year" there shall "come a rumor" that Cyrus is preparing for war against Babylon. "After that, in another year, shall come a rumor," namely, that Cyrus is approaching, and has already entered Assyria. Then is your time to "go out" (Jer 51:45). Babylon was taken the following or third year of Belshazzar's reign [GROTIUS]. violence in the land--of Babylon (Psa 7:16). ruler against ruler--or, "ruler upon ruler," a continual change of rulers in a short space. Belshazzar and Nabonidus, supplanted by Darius or Cyaxares, who is succeeded by Cyrus.”

“Yet they are not to despair when the catastrophe draws near, and all kinds of rumours of war and oppression are abroad. The repetition of השּׁמוּעה expresses the correlative relation, - this and that report; cf. Ewald, 360, c. The suffix in אחריו has a neuter sense; the word means "afterwards" (= אחרי זאת, Job 42:16). וחמס בּארץ is also to be taken as dependent, grammatically, on וּבא: "and when a deed of violence is committed in the land, one ruler (rises up) against the other." These words presuppose not merely a pretty long duration of the war, but also rebellion and revolution, through which Babylon is to go to ruin. In this sense they are employed by Christ for describing the wars and risings that are to precede His advent; Mat 24:6; Mar 13:7; Luk 21:9.”