Jeremiah 51:27

Ararat. This refers to the kingdom known in Assyrian inscriptions as Urartu, located in eastern Armenia to the northwest of Lake Van. In 2 Kings 19:37 and Isa. 37:38, where the Hebrew reads literally, “land of Ararat,” the KJV, following the LXX, translates the expression “the land of Armenia.” Cyaxares (c. 625-585 B.C.) incorporated Urartu into the Median Empire.

Minni. In Assyrian inscriptions, Mannai, a people living south and southeast of Lake Urmiah. They are also known as Manneans and Munna.

Ashchenaz. The Ashkuza, a people living southeast of Lake Urmiah (see on Gen. 10:3). Scholars identify them with the Scythians, a rapacious people of uncertain origin who swept into Mesopotamia from central Asia in the 7th century B.C. Herodotus (i. 95 ff.) states that for 28 years (653-625 B.C.) they dominated and plundered Media (see George C. Cameron, History of Early Iran, pp. 176, 232). Then Cyaxares, the Median king, conquered them and they became his allies. It seems to have been from the Scythians that the Medes learned prowess with the bow, for which they became renowned (see Jer. 51:11). The Scythians were allied with the Medes and the Babylonians in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire at the end of the 7th century, and appear in v. 27 again as a Median ally in the destruction of Babylonia.

Captain. Heb. tiphsar, probably from the Assyrian tiipsharru, “a tablet writer,” “a scribe.” Throughout the ancient Near East the “scribe” implied much more than merely one skilled in the art of writing. Scribes held positions of relatively great importance, and the term here used signifies a military officer of high rank.