Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 51:7

"Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah`s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad." — Jeremiah 51:7 (ASV)

Babylon hath been a golden cup ... —The “golden cup” points to the splendour of Babylon, outwardly, as a vessel made to honour (see Notes on Jeremiah 1:37). But the “wine” in that cup was poisoned, intoxicating men with wild ambitions and dark idolatries. The same image reappears in Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:4, save that there the “golden cup” is in the hand of the harlot, “whose name is MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT.”