Yeremia 46:5
Konteks46:5 What do I see?” 1 says the Lord. 2
“The soldiers 3 are terrified.
They are retreating.
They have been defeated.
They are overcome with terror; 4
they desert quickly
without looking back.
Yeremia 51:56
Konteks51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. 5
Her warriors will be captured;
their bows will be broken. 6
For the Lord is a God who punishes; 7
he pays back in full. 8
[46:5] 1 tn Heb “Why do I see?” The rendering is that of J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 685, 88) and J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 301; TEV; NIV). The question is not asking for information but is expressing surprise or wonder (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 951).
[46:5] sn The passage takes an unexpected turn at v. 5. After ironically summoning the Egyptian army to battle, the
[46:5] 2 tn Heb “oracle of the
[46:5] 3 tn Heb “Their soldiers.” These words are actually at the midpoint of the stanza as the subject of the third of the five verbs. However, as G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 291) note, this is the subject of all five verbs “are terrified,” “are retreating,” “have been defeated,” “have run away,” and “have not looked back.” The subject is put at the front to avoid an unidentified “they.”
[46:5] 4 tn Heb “terror is all around.”
[51:56] 5 tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”
[51:56] 6 tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.
[51:56] 7 tn Or “God of retribution.”
[51:56] 8 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