Yeremia 34:18

34:18 I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. ¹  I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence. ² 

Yeremia 51:12

51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ³ 

Bring more guards! ⁴ 

Post them all around the city! ⁵ 

Put men in ambush! ⁶ 

For the Lord will do what he has planned.

He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ⁷ 

[34:18]  ¹ sn See the study note on v. 8 for explanation and parallels.

[34:18]  ² tn There is a little confusion in the syntax of this section because the noun “the calf” does not have any formal conjunction or preposition with it showing how it relates to the rest of the sentence. KJV treats it and the following words as though they were a temporal clause modifying “covenant which they made.” The majority of modern English versions and commentaries, however, understand it as a second accusative after the verb + object “I will make the men.” This fits under the category of what GKC 375 §118.r calls an accusative of comparison (compare usage in Isa 21:8; Zech 2:8). Stated baldly, “I will make the people…the calf,” it is, however, more forceful than the formal use of the noun + preposition כְּ just as metaphors are generally more forceful than similes. The whole verse is one long, complex sentence in Hebrew: “I will make the men who broke my covenant [referring to the Mosaic covenant containing the stipulation to free slaves after six years] [and] who did not keep the terms of the covenant which they made before me [referring to their agreement to free their slaves] [like] the calf which they cut in two and passed between its pieces.” The sentence has been broken down into shorter sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.

[51:12]  ³ tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”

[51:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

[51:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Station the guards.”

[51:12]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.