Yeremia 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ¹ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ² 

Yeremia 51:43

51:43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.

She has become a dry and barren desert.

No one lives in those towns any more.

No one even passes through them. ³ 

Yeremia 51:58

51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all ⁴  says,

“Babylon’s thick wall ⁵  will be completely demolished. ⁶ 

Her high gates will be set on fire.

The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. ⁷ 

The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” ⁸ 

[51:37]  ¹ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ² tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

[51:43]  ³ tn Heb “Its towns have become a desolation, [it has become] a dry land and a desert, a land which no man passes through them [referring to “her towns”] and no son of man [= human being] passes through them.” Here the present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and a number of the modern commentaries in deleting the second occurrence of the word “land,” in which case the words that follow are not a relative clause but independent statements. A number of modern English versions appear to ignore the third feminine plural suffixes which refer back to the cities and refer the statements that follow to the land.

[51:58]  ⁴ sn See the note at Jer 2:19.

[51:58]  ⁵ tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew mss read the singular “wall,” which is also supported by the ancient Greek version. The modifying adjective “thick” is singular as well.

[51:58]  ⁶ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”

[51:58]  ⁷ tn Heb “for what is empty.”

[51:58]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”