Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
I will raise - Or, stir up.
An assembly of great nations - The Medo-Persian empire was as much an aggregate of discordant nations as that of Babylon.
From thence - From the north, i. e., by the great nations coming thence.
Return in vain - A proverbial expression for ill success (compare Isaiah 55:11). Here the skillful warrior returns not empty.
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