Jeremiah 51:20-24

Is it (a) Cyrus, as conqueror of Babylon, or (b) Babylon herself, that is addressed? Jeremiah 51:24 seems to support (a), but on the whole (b) is perhaps preferable. The future tenses can as well be rendered as presents, denoting what Babylon has hitherto been accustomed to do as the instrument of Jehovah. This view also harmonizes with Jeremiah 51:14 (while we omit 15 19; see note there), as well as with Jeremiah 51:25 ff., where Babylon is certainly the subject.