Yeremia 2:6
Konteks2:6 They did not ask:
‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt,
who brought us through the wilderness,
through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,
through a land of drought and deep darkness, 1
through a land in which no one travels,
and where no one lives?’ 2
Yeremia 50:9
Konteks50:9 For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon
a host of mighty nations 3 from the land of the north.
They will set up their battle lines against her.
They will come from the north and capture her. 4
Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier 5
who does not return from the battle empty-handed. 6
[2:6] 1 tn This word is erroneously rendered “shadow of death” in most older English versions; that translation is based on a faulty etymology. Contextual studies and comparative Semitic linguistics have demonstrated that the word is merely another word for darkness. It is confined to poetic texts and often carries connotations of danger and distress. It is associated in poetic texts with the darkness of a prison (Ps 107:10, 14), a mine (Job 28:3), and a ravine (Ps 23:4). Here it is associated with the darkness of the wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert.
[2:6] 2 sn The context suggests that the question is related to a lament where the people turn to God in their troubles, asking him for help and reminding him of his past benefactions. See for example Isa 63:11-19 and Ps 44. It is an implicit prayer for his intervention, cf. 2 Kgs 2:14.
[50:9] 3 sn Some of these are named in Jer 51:27-28.
[50:9] 4 tn Heb “She will be captured from there (i.e., from the north).”
[50:9] 5 tc Read Heb ַָמשְׂכִּיל (moskil) with a number of Hebrew
[50:9] 6 tn Or more freely, “Their arrows will be as successful at hitting their mark // as a skilled soldier always returns from battle with plunder.”
[50:9] sn I.e., none of the arrows misses its mark.
