John Gill Bible Commentary

Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war,.... This is said by the Lord, either to Cyrus, as some, to which our version inclines, whom God made use of as an instrument to subdue nations and kingdoms, and destroy them; see Isa 45:1; or rather Babylon, and the king of it, who had been the hammer of the earth, Jer 50:23; as it may be rendered here, "thou art my hammer" (s); or, "hast been"; an instrument in his hands, of beating the nations to pieces, as stones by a hammer, and of destroying them, as by weapons of war: this, and what follows, are observed to show, that though Babylon had been used by the Lord for the destruction of others, it should not be secure from it itself, but should share the same fate; unless this is to be understood of the church of God, and kingdom of Christ, which in the latter day will break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, Dan 2:44; which sense seems to have some countenance and confirmation from Jer 51:24 "in your sight". The Targum is, "thou art a scatterer before me, a city in which are warlike arms;'' which seems to refer to Babylon: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; or, "with thee I have broke in pieces, and have destroyed"; the future instead of the past (t); as the nations and kingdoms of Judea, Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and others: or, "that I may break in pieces" (u), &c. and so it expresses the end for which he was a hammer, as well as the use he had been or would be of. (s) "malleus es, vel fuisti mihi", Pagninus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt. (t) "Dispersi, perdidi", Lutherus; "conquassavi", Munster; "dissipavi", Piscator. (u) "ut dissiparem", Junius & Tremellius; "ut dispergam", Schmidt.