Yeremia 2:13

2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water, ¹ 

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Yeremia 2:28

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ²  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Yeremia 2:37

2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt

with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame ³ 

because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful

and you will not gain any help from them. ⁴ 

Yeremia 4:3

4:3 Yes, ⁵  the Lord has this to say

to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,

you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;

just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,

you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives. ⁶ 

Yeremia 6:6

6:6 All of this is because ⁷  the Lord who rules over all ⁸  has said:

‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem

and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ⁹ 

This is the city which is to be punished. ¹⁰ 

Nothing but oppression happens in it. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 10:16

10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance ¹²  of Jacob’s descendants, ¹³  is not like them.

He is the one who created everything.

And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. ¹⁴ 

He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ¹⁶  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ¹⁷ 

against ¹⁸  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ¹⁹ 

Yeremia 14:7

14:7 Then I said, ²⁰ 

“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name ²¹ 

even though our sins speak out against us. ²² 

Indeed, ²³  we have turned away from you many times.

We have sinned against you.

Yeremia 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ²⁴ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ²⁵ 

Yeremia 16:3

16:3 For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to ²⁶  the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. ²⁷ 

Yeremia 16:17

16:17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. ²⁸ 

Yeremia 18:22

18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses

when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ²⁹ 

For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden traps for me to step into.

Yeremia 22:21

22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ³⁰ 

But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”

That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ³¹ 

Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

Yeremia 23:18

23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle ³² 

so they ³³  could see and hear what he has to say? ³⁴ 

Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

Yeremia 25:31

25:31 The sounds of battle ³⁵  will resound to the ends of the earth.

For the Lord will bring charges against the nations. ³⁶ 

He will pass judgment on all humankind

and will hand the wicked over to be killed in war.’ ³⁷ 

The Lord so affirms it! ³⁸ 

Yeremia 29:11

29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ³⁹  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ⁴⁰  a future filled with hope. ⁴¹ 

Yeremia 31:16

31:16 The Lord says to her, ⁴² 

“Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears! ⁴³ 

For your heartfelt repentance ⁴⁴  will be rewarded.

Your children will return from the land of the enemy.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴⁵ 

Yeremia 33:4

33:4 For I, the Lord God of Israel, have something more to say about the houses in this city and the royal buildings which have been torn down for defenses against the siege ramps and military incursions of the Babylonians: ⁴⁶ 

Yeremia 36:7

36:7 Perhaps then they will ask the Lord for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. ⁴⁷  For the Lord has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people.” ⁴⁸ 

Yeremia 46:12

46:12 The nations will hear of your devastating defeat. ⁴⁹ 

your cries of distress will echo throughout the earth.

In the panic of their flight one soldier will trip over another

and both of them will fall down defeated.” ⁵⁰ 

Yeremia 48:18

48:18 Come down from your place of honor;

sit on the dry ground, ⁵¹  you who live in Dibon. ⁵² 

For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you;

he will destroy your fortifications.

Yeremia 49:30

49:30 The Lord says, ⁵³  “Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor. ⁵⁴ 

Take up refuge in remote places. ⁵⁵ 

For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you.

He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.” ⁵⁶ 

Yeremia 50:14

50:14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,

all you soldiers who are armed with bows. ⁵⁷ 

Shoot ⁵⁸  all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! ⁵⁹ 

For she has sinned against the Lord.

Yeremia 50:25

50:25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. ⁶⁰ 

I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. ⁶¹ 

For I, the Lord God who rules over all, ⁶² 

have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. ⁶³ 

Yeremia 51:2

51:2 I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. ⁶⁴ 

They will winnow her and strip her land bare. ⁶⁵ 

This will happen when ⁶⁶  they come against her from every direction,

when it is time to destroy her. ⁶⁷ 

Yeremia 51:12

51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ⁶⁸ 

Bring more guards! ⁶⁹ 

Post them all around the city! ⁷⁰ 

Put men in ambush! ⁷¹ 

For the Lord will do what he has planned.

He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ⁷² 

Yeremia 51:19

51:19 The Lord, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them.

For he is the one who created everything,

including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own. ⁷³ 

He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ⁷⁴ 

Yeremia 51:33

51:33 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says,

‘Fair Babylon ⁷⁵  will be like a threshing floor

which has been trampled flat for harvest.

The time for her to be cut down and harvested

will come very soon.’ ⁷⁶ 

Yeremia 51:56

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ⁷⁷ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ⁷⁸ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ⁷⁹ 

he pays back in full. ⁸⁰ 

[2:13]  ¹ tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the Lord, the source of life, health, and vitality, with useless idols that cannot do anything.

[2:28]  ² tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[2:37]  ³ tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.

[2:37]  ⁴ tn Heb “The Lord has rejected those you trust in; you will not prosper by/from them.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew particle is obviously asseverative here since a causal connection appears to make little sense.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Plow up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns.” The translation is an attempt to bring out the force of a metaphor. The idea seems to be that they are to plow over the thorns and make the ground ready for the seeds which will produce a new crop where none had been produced before.

[6:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “For.” The translation attempts to make the connection clearer.

[6:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:6]  sn For an explanation of the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[6:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “Cut down its trees and build up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.” The referent has been moved forward from the second line for clarity.

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “must be punished.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The LXX reads, “Woe, city of falsehood!” The MT presents two anomalies: a masculine singular verb with a feminine singular subject in a verbal stem (Hophal) that elsewhere does not have the meaning “is to be punished.” Hence many follow the Greek which presupposes הוֹי עִיר הַשֶּׁקֶר (hoy ’ir hasheqer) instead of הִיא הָעִיר הָפְקַד (hi’ ha’ir hofqad). The Greek is the easier reading in light of the parallelism, and it would be hard to explain how the MT arose from it. KBL suggests reading a noun meaning “licentiousness” which occurs elsewhere only in Mishnaic Hebrew, hence “this is the city, the licentious one” (attributive apposition; cf. KBL 775 s.v. פֶּקֶר). Perhaps the Hophal perfect (הָפְקַד, hofÿqad) should be revocalized as a Niphal infinitive absolute (הִפָּקֹד, hippaqod); this would solve both anomalies in the MT since the Niphal is used in this nuance and the infinitive absolute can function in place of a finite verb (cf. GKC 346 §113.ee and ff). This, however, is mere speculation and is supported by no Hebrew ms.

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “All of it oppression in its midst.”

[10:16]  ¹² tn The words “The Lord who is” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. For the significance of the words that follow them see the study note that follows.

[10:16]  sn The phrase the portion of Jacob’s descendants, which is applied to God here, has its background in the division of the land where each tribe received a portion of the land of Palestine except the tribe of Levi whose “portion” was the Lord. As the other tribes lived off what their portion of the land provided, the tribe of Levi lived off what the Lord provided, i.e., the tithes and offerings dedicated to him. Hence to have the Lord as one’s portion is to have him provide for all one’s needs (see Ps 16:5 in the context of vv. 2, 6 and Lam 3:24 in the context of vv. 22-23).

[10:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Portion of Jacob.” “Descendants” is implied, and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And Israel is the tribe of his possession.”

[10:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.”

[10:16]  sn For this rendering of the name for God and its significance see 2:19 and the study note there.

[12:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[14:7]  ²⁰ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. However, it cannot be a continuation of the Lord’s speech and the people have consistently refused to acknowledge their sin. The fact that the prayer here and in vv. 19-22 are followed by an address from God to Jeremiah regarding prayer (cf. 4:11 and the interchanges there between God and Jeremiah and 15:1) also argues that the speaker is Jeremiah. He is again identifying with his people (cf. 8:18-9:2). Here he takes up the petition part of the lament which often contains elements of confession of sin and statements of trust. In 14:1-6 God portrays to Jeremiah the people’s lamentable plight instead of their describing it to him. Here Jeremiah prays what they should pray. The people are strangely silent throughout.

[14:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “Act for the sake of your name.” The usage of “act” in this absolute, unqualified sense cf. BDB 794 s.v. עָוֹשָׂה Qal.I.r and compare the usage, e.g., in 1 Kgs 8:32 and 39. For the nuance of “for the sake of your name” compare the usage in Isa 48:9 and Ezek 20:9, 14.

[14:7]  ²² tn Or “bear witness against us,” or “can be used as evidence against us,” to keep the legal metaphor. Heb “testify against.”

[14:7]  ²³ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can scarcely be causal here; it is either intensive (BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) or concessive (BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c). The parallel usage in Gen 18:20 argues for the intensive force as does the fact that the concessive has already been expressed by אִם (’im).

[15:16]  ²⁴ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[15:16]  sn See Jer 14:9 where this idiom is applied to Israel as a whole and Jer 7:10 where it is applied to the temple. For discussion cf. notes on 7:10.

[16:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord concerning…”

[16:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in the place and concerning their mothers who give them birth and their fathers who fathered them in this land.”

[16:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from before me. And their sin is not hidden away from before my eyes.”

[18:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.

[22:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.

[22:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.

[23:18]  ³² tn Or “has been the Lord’s confidant.”

[23:18]  sn The Lord’s inner circle refers to the council of angels (Ps 89:7 [89:8 HT]; 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Job 1-2; Job 15:8) where God made known his counsel/plans (Amos 3:7). They and those they prophesied to will find out soon enough what the purposes of his heart are, and they are not “peace” (see v. 20). By their failure to announce the impending doom they were not turning the people away from their wicked course (vv. 21-22).

[23:18]  ³³ tn The form here is a jussive with a vav of subordination introducing a purpose after a question (cf. GKC 322 §109.f).

[23:18]  ³⁴ tc Heb “his word.” In the second instance (“what he has said” at the end of the verse) the translation follows the suggestion of the Masoretes (Qere) and many Hebrew mss rather than the consonantal text (Kethib) of the Leningrad Codex.

[25:31]  ³⁵ tn For the use of this word see Amos 2:2; Hos 10:14; Ps 74:23. See also the usage in Isa 66:6 which is very similar to the metaphorical usage here.

[25:31]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord has a lawsuit against the nations.” For usage of the term see Hos 4:1; Mic 6:2, and compare the usage of the related verb in Jer 2:9; 12:1.

[25:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “give the wicked over to the sword.”

[25:31]  sn There is undoubtedly a deliberate allusion here to the reference to the “wars” (Heb “sword”) that the Lord had said he would send raging through the nations (vv. 16, 27) and the “war” (Heb “sword”) that he is proclaiming against them (v. 29).

[25:31]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.

[31:16]  ⁴² tn The words “to her” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[31:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Refrain your voice from crying and your eyes from tears.”

[31:16]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “your work.” Contextually her “work” refers to her weeping and refusing to be comforted, that is, signs of genuine repentance (v. 15).

[31:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[33:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “the sword.” The figure has been interpreted for the sake of clarity.

[36:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “will turn each one from his wicked way.”

[36:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “For great is the anger and the wrath which the Lord has spoken against this people.” The translation uses the more active form which is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[46:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “of your shame.” The “shame,” however, applies to the devastating defeat they will suffer.

[46:12]  ⁵⁰ tn The words “In the panic of their flight” and “defeated” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor for the average reader. The verbs in this verse are all in the tense that emphasizes that the action is viewed as already having been accomplished (i.e., the Hebrew prophetic perfect). This is consistent with the vav consecutive perfects in v. 10 which look to the future.

[48:18]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “sit in thirst.” The abstract “thirst” is put for the concrete, i.e., thirsty or parched ground (cf. Deut 8:19; Isa 35:7; Ps 107:33) for the concrete. There is no need to emend to “filth” (צֹאָה [tso’ah] for צָמָא [tsama’]) as is sometimes suggested.

[48:18]  ⁵² tn Heb “inhabitant of Daughter Dibon.” “Daughter” is used here as often in Jeremiah for the personification of a city, a country, or its inhabitants. The word “inhabitant” is to be understood as a collective as also in v. 19.

[48:18]  sn Dibon was an important fortified city located on the “King’s Highway,” the main north-south road in Transjordan. It was the site at which the Moabite Stone was found in 1868 and was one of the cities mentioned on it. It was four miles north of the Arnon River and thirteen miles east of the Dead Sea. It was one of the main cities on the northern plateau and had been conquered from Sihon and allotted to the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:17).

[49:30]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:30]  ⁵⁴ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[49:30]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “Make deep to dwell.” See Jer 49:8 and the translator’s note there. The use of this same phrase here argues against the alternative there of going down from a height and going back home.

[49:30]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “has counseled a counsel against you, has planned a plan against you.”

[50:14]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “all you who draw the bow.”

[50:14]  ⁵⁸ tc The verb here should probably be read as a Qal imperative יְרוּ (yÿru) from יָרָה (yarah) with a few Hebrew mss rather than a Qal imperative יְדוּ (yidu) from יָדָה (yadah) with the majority of Hebrew mss. The verb יָדָה (yadah) does not otherwise occur in the Qal and only elsewhere in the Piel with a meaning “cast” (cf. KBL 363 s.v. I יָדָה). The verb יָרָה (yarah) is common in both the Qal and the Hiphil with the meaning of shooting arrows (cf. BDB 435 s.v. יָרָה Qal.3 and Hiph.2). The confusion between ד (dalet) and ר (resh) is very common.

[50:14]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “Shoot at her! Don’t save any arrows!”

[50:25]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “I have opened up my armory.”

[50:25]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “The Lord has opened up his armory and has brought out the weapons of his wrath.” The problem of the Lord referring to himself in the third person (or of the prophet speaking on his behalf) is again raised here and is again resolved by using the first person throughout. The construction “weapons of my wrath” would not convey any meaning to many readers so the significance has been spelled out in the translation.

[50:25]  sn The weapons are the nations which God is bringing from the north against them. Reference has already been made in the study notes that Assyria is the “rod” or “war club” by which God vents his anger against Israel (Isa 10:5-6) and Babylon a hammer or war club with which he shatters the nations (Jer 50:23; 51:20). Now God will use other nations as weapons to execute his wrath against Babylon. For a similar idea see Isa 13:2-5 where reference is made to marshaling the nations against Babylon. Some of the nations that the Lord will marshal against Babylon are named in Jer 51:27-28.

[50:25]  ⁶² tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this rendering and the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:25]  ⁶³ tn The words “of Babylonia” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[50:25]  sn The verbs in vv. 22-25 are all descriptive of the present but, all of this is really to take place in the future. Hebrew poetry has a way of rendering future actions as though they were already accomplished. The poetry of this section makes it difficult, however, to render the verbs as future as the present translation has regularly done.

[51:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “I will send foreign people against Babylonia.” The translation follows the reading of the Greek recensions of Aquila and Symmachus and the Latin version (the Vulgate). That reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and several of the modern versions (e.g., NRSV, REB, NAB, and God’s Word). It fits better with the verb that follows it than the reading of the Hebrew text and the rest of the versions. The difference in the two readings is again only the difference in vocalization, the Hebrew text reading זָרִים (zarim) and the versions cited reading זֹרִים (zorim). If the Hebrew text is followed, there is a wordplay between the two words, “foreigners” and “winnow.” The words “like a wind blowing away chaff” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the reader what “winnow” means.

[51:2]  sn Winnowing involved throwing a mixture of grain and chaff (or straw) into the air and letting the wind blow away the lighter chaff, leaving the grain to fall on the ground. Since God considered all the Babylonians chaff, they would all be “blown away.”

[51:2]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “They will strip her land bare like a wind blowing away chaff.” The alternate translation would be necessary if one were to adopt the alternate reading of the first line (the reading of the Hebrew text). The explanation of “winnow” would then be necessary in the second line. The verb translated “strip…bare” means literally “to empty out” (see BDB 132 s.v. בָּקַק Polel). It has been used in 19:7 in the Qal of “making void” Judah’s plans in a wordplay on the word for “bottle.” See the study note on 19:7 for further details.

[51:2]  ⁶⁶ tn This assumes that the particle כִּי (ki) is temporal (cf. BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.a). This is the interpretation adopted also by NRSV and G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 349. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 345) and J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 747, n. 3) interpret it as asseverative or emphatic, “Truly, indeed.” Many of the modern English versions merely ignore it. Reading it as temporal makes it unnecessary to emend the following verb as Bright and Thompson do (from הָיוּ [hayu] to יִהְיוּ [yihyu]).

[51:2]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “in the day of disaster.”

[51:12]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”

[51:12]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

[51:12]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “Station the guards.”

[51:12]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”

[51:12]  sn The commands are here addressed to the kings of the Medes to fully blockade the city by posting watchmen and setting men in ambush to prevent people from escaping from the city (cf. 2 Kgs 25:4).

[51:12]  ⁷² tn Heb “For the Lord has both planned and done what he said concerning the people living in Babylon,” i.e., “he has carried out what he planned.” Here is an obvious case where the perfects are to be interpreted as prophetic; the commands imply that the attack is still future.

[51:19]  ⁷³ tn Heb “For he is the former of all [things] and the tribe of his inheritance.” This is the major exception to the verbatim repetition of 10:12-16 in 51:15-19. The word “Israel” appears before “the tribe of his inheritance” in 10:16. It is also found in a number of Hebrew mss, in the Lucianic recension of the LXX (the Greek version), the Aramaic Targums, and the Latin Vulgate. Most English versions and many commentaries assume it here. However, it is easier to explain why the word is added in a few of the versions and some Hebrew than to explain why it was left out. It is probable that the word is not original here because the addressees are different and the function of this hymnic piece is slightly different (see the study note on the next line for details). Here it makes good sense to understand that the Lord is being called the creator of the special tribe of people he claims as his own property (see the study note on the first line of 10:16).

[51:19]  ⁷⁴ sn With the major exception discussed in the translator’s note on the preceding line vv. 15-19 are a verbatim repetition of 10:12-16 with a few minor variations in spelling. There the passage was at the end of a section in which the Lord was addressing the Judeans and trying to convince them that the worship of idols was vain – the idols were impotent but he is all powerful. Here the passage follows a solemn oath by the Lord who rules over all and is apparently directed to the Babylonians, emphasizing the power of the Lord to carry out his oath.

[51:33]  ⁷⁵ sn Heb “Daughter Babylon.” See the study note at 50:42 for explanation.

[51:33]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “Daughter Babylon will be [or is; there is no verb and the tense has to be supplied from the context] like a threshing floor at the time one tramples it. Yet a little while and the time of the harvest will come for her.” It is generally agreed that there are two figures here: one of leveling the threshing floor and stamping it into a smooth, hard surface and the other of the harvest where the grain is cut, taken to the threshing floor, and threshed by trampling the sheaves of grain to loosen the grain from the straw, and finally winnowed by throwing the mixture into the air (cf., e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 760). The translation has sought to convey those ideas as clearly as possible without digressing too far from the literal.

[51:33]  sn There are two figures involved here: one of the threshing floor being leveled and stamped down hard and smooth and the other of the harvest. At harvest time the stalks of grain were cut down, gathered in sheaves, taken to the harvest floor where the grain was loosened from the husk by driving oxen and threshing sleds over them. The grain was then separated from the mixture of grain, straw and husks by repeatedly throwing it in the air and letting the wind blow away the lighter husks and ground-up straw. The figure of harvest is often used of judgment in the OT. See, e.g., Joel 3:13 (4:13 Hebrew text) and Hos 6:11 and compare also Mic 4:12-13 and Jer 51:2 where different steps in this process are also used figuratively in connection with judgment. Babylon will be leveled to the ground and its people cut down in judgment.

[51:56]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ⁷⁸ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ⁷⁹ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ⁸⁰ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”