Matthew Poole and continuators on Jeremiah 51:13

13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters , abundant in treasures , thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness .

Babylon is said to dwell upon many waters because upon the great River Euphrates, which they say did not onely run by it, but almost incompass it, branching it self into many smaller Rivers which made several parts of the City, Islands.

It is a City much noted in Scripture for wealth, and made much more wealthy then it was by traffick by the conquest of many Nations.

The Prophet tells them that now their gathering time was over, there was now a boundary set to their covetousness, in the Hebrew it is the cubit of thy covetousness, which is by our translators well translated a measure, because it was amongst the Jews the common measure of height and depth. The word by us translated covetousness, as Exod. 18.21. may either signifie riches the object of their covetousness, or prosperity, or that unlawful desire of having more which is properly called Covetousness, either because they should be destroyed utterly, or because they should prosper no more, there was no end put to the Babylonians lusts, but there was an end put to the satisfaction of their lusts.