Yeremia 25:31-33

25:31 The sounds of battle ¹  will resound to the ends of the earth.

For the Lord will bring charges against the nations. ² 

He will pass judgment on all humankind

and will hand the wicked over to be killed in war.’ ³ 

The Lord so affirms it! ⁴ 

25:32 The Lord who rules over all ⁵  says,

‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ⁶ 

A mighty storm of military destruction ⁷  is rising up

from the distant parts of the earth.’

25:33 Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time

will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.

They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ⁸ 

Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

[25:31]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:32]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this extended title.

[25:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “will go forth from nation to nation.”

[25:32]  ⁷ tn The words “of military destruction” have been supplied in the translation to make the metaphor clear. The metaphor has shifted from that of God as a lion, to God as a warrior, to God as a judge, to God as the author of the storm winds of destruction.

[25:32]  sn For the use of this word in a literal sense see Jonah 1:4. For its use to refer to the wrath of the Lord which will rage over the wicked see Jer 23:19; 30:23. Here it refers to the mighty Babylonian army which will come bringing destruction over all the known world. The same prophecy has just been given under the figure of the nations drinking the wine of God’s wrath (vv. 15-29).

[25:33]  ⁸ sn The intent here is to emphasize the large quantity of those who are killed – there will be too many to insure proper mourning rites and proper burial.