Matthew Poole and continuators on Jeremiah 51:32

32 And that the passages are stopt , and the reeds they have burnt with fire , and the men of war are afrighted .

This was part of the message which the Prophet saith the Messenger should carry to the King of Babylon, that was in the other part of the City, that the passages over the River Enphrates, or any other passages by which the Babylonians might, upon the Enemies entrance, make their escape, were all stopped, and guarded with Souldiers, or otherwise so as there was no hope of any making an escape.

The word translated Reeds signifies also standing Pools of Water, and that some judge the sense, the water is drained out of the pits or pools so as it could not hinder the entrance of the Enemies, those that adhere to the translation of it Reeds, say that upon the borders of the River Euphrates were vast quantities of great and tall Reeds, which with the mud in which they stood, were as another Wall to the City, but the Medes had burnt up them so as the way was open to the Walls, and the Men of War,

Seeing these reeds burnt up, and the water drained from them, were afrighted, so as their hearts through fear failed them.

Marginal references: chap. 50.38.