Yeremia 51:42-43

51:42 The sea has swept over Babylon.

She has been covered by a multitude ¹  of its waves. ² 

51:43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.

She has become a dry and barren desert.

No one lives in those towns any more.

No one even passes through them. ³ 

Yeremia 51:58

51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all ⁴  says,

“Babylon’s thick wall ⁵  will be completely demolished. ⁶ 

Her high gates will be set on fire.

The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. ⁷ 

The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” ⁸ 

[51:42]  ¹ tn For the meaning “multitude” here rather than “tumult” see BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.c, where reference is made that this refers to a great throng of people under the figure of an overwhelming mass of waves. The word is used of a multitude of soldiers, or a vast army in 1 Sam 14:16; 1 Kgs 20:13, 18 (cf. BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.a for further references).

[51:42]  ² tn Heb “The sea has risen up over Babylon. She has been covered by the multitude of its waves.”

[51:42]  sn This is a poetic and figurative reference to the enemies of Babylon, the foe from the north (see 50:3, 9, 51:27-28), which has attacked Babylon in wave after wave. This same figure is used in Isa 17:12. In Isa 8:7-8 the king of Assyria (and his troops) are compared to the Euphrates which rises up and floods over the whole land of Israel and Judah. This same figure, but with application to Babylon, is assumed in Jer 47:2-3. In Jer 46:7-8 the same figure is employed in a taunt of Egypt which had boasted that it would cover the earth like the flooding of the Nile.

[51:43]  ³ tn Heb “Its towns have become a desolation, [it has become] a dry land and a desert, a land which no man passes through them [referring to “her towns”] and no son of man [= human being] passes through them.” Here the present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and a number of the modern commentaries in deleting the second occurrence of the word “land,” in which case the words that follow are not a relative clause but independent statements. A number of modern English versions appear to ignore the third feminine plural suffixes which refer back to the cities and refer the statements that follow to the land.

[51:58]  ⁴ sn See the note at Jer 2:19.

[51:58]  ⁵ tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew mss read the singular “wall,” which is also supported by the ancient Greek version. The modifying adjective “thick” is singular as well.

[51:58]  ⁶ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”

[51:58]  ⁷ tn Heb “for what is empty.”

[51:58]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”