And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever. The idea of "continuance" is one of the primary instincts of human nature. Hence we regard it as certain that the sun will rise on the morrow. We expect things to "continue in one stay," and "to-morrow to be as to-day," if not even "more abundant."
Babylon was not much more arrogant than other nations when she assumed that silo would be "a lady for ever." And she had more excuse than almost any other nation. Her capital was one of the most ancient cities, if not the most ancient city in the world (Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1-9).
Though not unconquered (see the comment on Isaiah 47:1), she had yet for two millennia or more maintained a prominent position among the chief peoples of the earth, and had finally risen to a prouder eminence than any that she had previously occupied.
Still, she ought to have remembered that "all things come to an end," and to have so comported herself in the time of her prosperity as not to have provoked God to anger. So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart.
"These things" must refer to the calamities about to fall upon Babylon, of which she may have heard before the end came—since they had been prophesied so long previously—but which she did not take to heart.
The latter end of it; i.e. "the probable issue of her pride and cruelty" (Kay).