Scripture for us today as are the psalms (not all that different in their thrust from this one) that appear in Luke 1–2. The real “victory”, however, was that Israel was now a changed people; that is a victory that can happen equally today. So wonderful is this victory that the whole earth is invited to praise God for it with all the instruments of music they can muster. Moreover, “the whole earth” must necessarily include the defeated Babylonians! That then is the world of mankind. But the world