Jeremiah 10:22
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
Jeremiah 10:22 belongs to the section comprising chapters 2-11, which some consider to be prophecies Baruch wrote after Jehoiakim burned the first scroll. In its setting in chapters 9 and 10, it points to Babylon as the swift avenger soon to punish Israel for its idolatry and other sins.
The north country is the source of a great power and commotion that makes the cities of Judah desolate, and in the prophecy of the kings of the north and south the north is the dominant power north of Palestine and the successor to Babylon, whatever nation or ruler holds that role. In Old Testament prophecy the north is the region from which the ungodly enemies and oppressors of Israel came, and the northern invader here is one example of northern peoples standing for opponents of God's people. This explains why Gog, Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal in Ezekiel 38 symbolize the forces of world evil opposed to God and His redeemed at the close of the thousand years before their ultimate destruction.