Jeremiah 48:40

For the Lord says, “Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings a nation will swoop down on Moab. ¹ 

De 28:49; Isa 8:8; Jer 4:13; Jer 49:22; La 4:19; Eze 17:3; Da 7:4; Ho 8:1

¹ tn Heb “Behold! Like an eagle he will swoop and will spread his wings against Moab.” The sentence has been reordered in English to give a better logical flow and the unidentified “he” has been identified as “a nation.” The nation is, of course, Babylon, but it is nowhere identified so the referent has been left ambiguous.

sn Conquering nations are often identified with a swiftly flying eagle swooping down on its victims (cf. Deut 28:49). In this case the eagle is to be identified with the nation (or king) of Babylon (cf. Ezek 17:3, 12 where reference is to the removal of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) and his replacement with Zedekiah).