5:1 King Belshazzar 1 prepared a great banquet 2 for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of 3 them all. 4 5:2 While under the influence 5 of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father 6 had confiscated 7 from the temple in Jerusalem 8 – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. 9
21:4 My heart palpitates, 10
I shake in fear; 11
the twilight I desired
has brought me terror.
21:5 Arrange the table,
lay out 12 the carpet,
eat and drink! 13
Get up, you officers,
smear oil on the shields! 14
21:6 For this is what the sovereign master 15 has told me:
“Go, post a guard!
He must report what he sees.
21:7 When he sees chariots,
teams of horses, 16
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels,
he must be alert,
very alert.”
21:8 Then the guard 17 cries out:
“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, 18
I stand all day long;
at my post
I am stationed every night.
21:9 Look what’s coming!
A charioteer,
a team of horses.” 19
When questioned, he replies, 20
“Babylon has fallen, fallen!
All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”
47:9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed. 21
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, 22
despite 23 your many incantations
and your numerous amulets. 24
51:11 “Sharpen 25 your arrows!
Fill your quivers! 26
The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in 27 the kings of Media. 28
For he intends to destroy Babylonia.
For that is how the Lord will get his revenge –
how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple. 29
51:31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon.
One messenger after another will come bringing news. 30
They will bring news to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured. 31
51:39 When their appetites are all stirred up, 32
I will set out a banquet for them.
I will make them drunk
so that they will pass out, 33
they will fall asleep forever,
they will never wake up,” 34
says the Lord. 35
51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, leaders, 36 and warriors.
They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” 37
says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. 38
1 sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539
2 sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.
3 sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.
4 tn Aram “the thousand.”
5 tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).
6 tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.
7 tn Or “taken.”
8 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
9 sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.
10 tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”
11 tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”
12 tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).
13 tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.
14 sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.
15 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
16 tn Or “a pair of horsemen.”
17 tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.
18 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).
19 tn Or “[with] teams of horses,” or perhaps, “with a pair of horsemen.”
20 tn Heb “and he answered and said” (so KJV, ASV).
21 tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.
22 tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”
23 tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.
24 sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.
25 sn The imperatives here and in v. 12 are directed to the soldiers in the armies of the kings from the north (here identified as the kings of Media [see also 50:3, 9; 51:27-28]). They have often been addressed in this prophecy as though they were a present force (see 50:14-16; 50:21 [and the study note there]; 50:26, 29; 51:3) though the passage as a whole is prophetic of the future. This gives some idea of the ideal stance that the prophets adopted when they spoke of the future as though already past (the use of the Hebrew prophetic perfect which has been referred to often in the translator’s notes).
26 tn The meaning of this word is debated. The most thorough discussion of this word including etymology and usage in the OT and Qumran is in HALOT 1409-10 s.v. שֶׁלֶט, where the rendering “quiver” is accepted for all the uses of this word in the OT. For a more readily accessible discussion for English readers see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:422-23. The meaning “quiver” fits better with the verb “fill” than the meaning “shield” which is adopted in BDB 1020 s.v. שֶׁלֶט. “Quiver” is the meaning adopted also in NRSV, REB, NAB, and NJPS.
27 tn Heb “The
28 sn Media was a country in what is now northwestern Iran. At the time this prophecy was probably written they were the dominating force in the northern region, the most likely enemy to Babylon. By the time Babylon fell in 538
29 tn Heb “For it is the vengeance of the
30 tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and…” The intent is to portray a relay of runners carrying the news that follows on in vv. 31d-33 to the king of Babylon. The present translation attempts to spell out the significance.
31 tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and messenger to meet messenger to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken in [its] entirety.” There is general agreement among the commentaries that the first two lines refer to messengers converging on the king of Babylon from every direction bringing news the sum total of which is reported in the lines that follow. For the meaning of the last phrase see BDB 892 s.v. קָצֶה 3 and compare the usage in Gen 19:4 and Isa 56:11. The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.
32 tn Heb “When they are hot.”
33 tc The translation follows the suggestion of KBL 707 s.v. עָלַז and a number of modern commentaries (e.g., Bright, J. A. Thompson, and W. L. Holladay) in reading יְעֻלְּפוּ (ye’ullÿfu) for יַעֲלֹזוּ (ya’alozu) in the sense of “swoon away” or “grow faint” (see KBL 710 s.v. עָלַף Pual). That appears to be the verb that the LXX (the Greek version) was reading when they translated καρωθῶσιν (karwqwsin, “they will be stupefied”). For parallel usage KBL cites Isa 51:20. This fits the context much better than “they will exult” in the Hebrew text.
34 sn The central figure here is the figure of the cup of the
35 tn Heb “Oracle of the
36 sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.
37 sn See the note at Jer 51:39.
38 tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.