The invading army from the north, as the instrument of the Lord’s judgment against Judah, has been hinted at already in this section (Jeremiah 8:10, Jeremiah 8:14–15), but now it comes clearly into view again. As before, the identity of the force is not given, but the reader knows that the invader will be revealed later to be the Babylonians.
Dan was the northern most town in Judah and would have been the first place to raise the alarm as the enemy invaded.1 So large and loud is the army that the horses make the whole land quake. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.
The similarity here, in the two lines of Hebrew parallelism, between the land and the city is probably intended to show how comprehensive the destruction is. Nothing will escape this invading army.2
16 Le hennissement de ses chevaux se fait entendre du côté de Dan, Et au bruit de leur hennissement toute la terre tremble; Ils viennent, ils dévorent le pays et ce qu'il renferme, La ville et ceux qui l'habitent.