Having pleaded to the Lord for mercy towards Judah, Jeremiah now calls on the Lord to pour out his judgment on the nations that do not know
the Lord and that do not call on your name.
Jeremiah is acknowledging the Lord’s rule over all nations as the creator of all things and his right to judge all those who rebel against him. The nations will and must face judgment for their idolatry. They also will and must face the Lord’s judgment because they have devoured and consumed Jacob (Israel). Over the decades these nations have laid waste his habitation
; they have invaded and destroyed the land the Lord had given Israel. These nations were of course the instruments of the Lord’s judgment on Israel, as the Babylonians will be when they invade Judah. But the fact remains that these nations worshipped other gods and when they did invade the land they did so with cruelty and violence that went beyond what the Lord mandated. The irony of Jeremiah’s prayer is that Judah deserved the same judgment that he is asking the Lord to pour out on the nations, because she too has also failed to know
the Lord. Yet, having mercy on Judah must necessarily include the Lord vindicating his people by judging the nations for their treatment of the Lord’s people.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.