6 And now have I given all these lands unto the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
We have long felt that God is angry, yet we do not try to appease him. It is our sins that make the barbarians strong. It is our vices that vanquish Rome’s soldiers. As if there were here too little material for carnage, civil wars have made almost greater havoc among us than the swords of foreign foes. Miserable must those Israelites have been compared with whom Nebuchadnezzar was called God’s servant. Unhappy too are we who are so displeasing to God that he uses the fury of the barbarians to execute his wrath against us. Still, when Hezekiah repented, 185, Assyrians were destroyed in one night by a single angel. When Jehosaphat sang the praises of the Lord, the Lord gave his worshiper the victory. Again, when Moses fought against Amalek, it was not with the sword but with prayer that he prevailed. Therefore, if we wish to be lifted up, we must first prostrate ourselves.
(Verse 6, 7.) Now therefore I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon: and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son. How then is Israel in a state of misery, when compared to him, Nebuchadnezzar, the servant of God? It is written in the Gospel: The world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. (John 1:10). Therefore, the creator rightly hands over his creation to whom he wishes. Moreover, even the devil, in whose likeness Nebuchadnezzar preceded, confesses: all these things have been handed over to me. And what he has brought in: Moreover, I have also given him the beasts of the field to serve him, or rather we should understand all kinds of animals; for indeed, both man and those things that are subject to them are handed over to them; or certainly, let us accept that wild beasts are also savage tribes, in that they also serve, whereas previously they did not know how to serve. But his son, and the son of his son, according to the Hebrew, is called Belshazzar and Evil-Merodach, about whom Daniel writes.
Until the time comes for its land and itself. So that the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar would not be thought to be everlasting, it is said that it will be taken by the Medes and Persians. For this is what it means: Until the time comes for its land and itself. But this is not included in the Septuagint.
And many nations and great kings shall serve him. It is not said, all: for this empire properly belongs to Christ, even though it is not read according to Symmachus: And many nations and great kings shall serve him; but many nations and great kings shall subject themselves to him in servitude, so that he himself may also serve the Medes and Persians, to whom all nations had previously served. This is what we have put from the Hebrew: I have given him that they may serve him, and all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time of his land and himself come: and in servitude when many nations and great kings shall subject themselves, it is not read in the Septuagint (as we have already said) edition.
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 27:6