Jeremiah 49:21

The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) The noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.—Literally, as in the margin, the Weedy, or Reed sea. The crash of the fall of Edom, the cries of the slaughtered people, were to be heard far off on the waters of the sea that washed its shores. Elath, on the Gulf of Akaba, was the sea-port of Edom (2Chronicles 26:2).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:7-22 The Edomites were old enemies to the Israel of God. But their day is now at hand; it is foretold, not only to warn them, but for the sake of the Israel of God, whose afflictions were aggravated by them. Thus Divine judgments go round from nation to nation; the earth is full of commotion, and nothing can escape the ministers of Divine vengeance. The righteousness of God is to be observed amidst the violence of men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is moved - Quakes.

At the cry ... - The arrangement is much more poetical in the Hebrew, The shriek - to the sea of Suph (Exodus 10:19 note) is heard its sound.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. was heard in—that is, shall be heard at.

Red Sea—a considerable distance from Idumea; though the district at the Elantic bay of the Red Sea originally belonged to Idumea, and the sea itself was called from Edom, that is, "red" (Ge 25:30, Margin). Others translate, "the weedy sea" (Margin), and derive the name, "Red Sea," from its red weeds; the former view is preferable.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That is, the ruin of the Edomites shall be so great, that all nations round about it shall be affected at the noise of their fall; and though the Red Sea, or the weedy sea, be at a great distance from them, yet their noise shall reach thither.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The earth is moved at the noise of their fall,.... Of the Edomites; whose fall was from the height of greatness and glory to a very low condition indeed; and as things, the higher they are from whence they fall, the greater noise they make, so it was with the Edomites; perhaps there may be some allusion to the falling of rocks and hills, with which Edom, abounded: this may respect either the noise and shout of the conquerors, when they fell; or the cry of the Edomites, when taken and destroyed; or the report of their destruction, when it came into the world; which struck the inhabitants of the whole earth with terror and amazement, so that they trembled at it; an hyperbolical expression, as Kimchi observes:

at the cry, the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea, or, "sea of Suph", or "weeds"; where weeds and rushes grew in great abundance, from whence it had its name. This is the Arabian gulf, which washed the shores of Edom, and was called the Red sea from thence, Edom signifying red. The meaning is, that the cry of the slain, or of the conquerors at the slaughter of them, should be heard to the borders of the land, to the sea shore, and by those in ships there; who should carry the report of it to each of the parts of the world.

Geneva Study Bible

The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Is moved; rather, quaketh (as Jeremiah 8:16). It is a pity that the Authorized Version has not preserved the present tense throughout the verse. The prophet seems to see his prediction realized before him. In the Red Sea; rather, beside the Bed Sea; comp. 1 Kings 9:26, "Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom." Jeremiah 49:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The fall of Edom will be so fearful, that the earth will tremble, and the cry of anguish from the perishing people will be heard on the Red Sea. נפלם is the inf. Kal with suffix. The threatening concludes, in Jeremiah 49:22, with the same though through which destruction is threatened to the Moabites, Jeremiah 48:40. The comparison of the enemy to an eagle is continued in the expression, "he shall come up;" the coming up, however, does not mean the rising of the eagle into the air, but refers to the enemy: to march as an enemy against Edom.

With reference to the fulfilment of this prophecy, we have already pointed out, on Numbers 24:18, and at the close of the exposition in Obadiah, that the threatened devastation of the land of Edom was brought about by the Chaldeans, as is clear from Malachi 1:3; but the annihilation of the people was commenced by the Maccabeans, and completed by the Romans, about the time of the Jewish war.