2:15 Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him;
they raise their voices in triumph. 1
They have laid his land waste;
his cities have been burned down and deserted. 2
6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all of them practice deceit.
10:12 The Lord is the one who 3 by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.
And by his understanding he spread out the skies.
23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle 9
so they 10 could see and hear what he has to say? 11
Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?
51:15 He is the one who 12 by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom fixed the world in place,
by his understanding he spread out the heavens.
51:26 No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone.
No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house.
For you will lie desolate forever,” 13
says the Lord. 14
51:29 The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. 15
For the Lord will carry out his plan.
He plans to make the land of Babylonia 16
a wasteland where no one lives. 17
1 tn Heb “Lions shout over him, they give out [raise] their voices.”
2 tn Heb “without inhabitant.”
3 tn The words “The
5 tn For the use of the verb “turn” (שׁוּב, shuv) in this sense, see BDB s.v. שׁוּב Qal.6.g and compare the usage in Pss 90:13; 6:4; Joel 2:14. It does not simply mean “again” as several of the English versions render it.
6 sn The
7 tn Heb “shepherds.”
8 tn There are various nuances of the word פָּקַד (paqad) represented in vv. 2, 4. See Ps 8:4 (8:5 HT) and Zech 10:3 for “care for/take care of” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.1.a). See Exod 20:5; Amos 3:2; Jer 9:24; 11:22 for “punish” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3). See 1 Kgs 20:39 and 2 Kgs 10:19 for “be missing” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Niph.1).
9 tn Heb “Oracle of the
9 tn Or “has been the
10 tn The form here is a jussive with a vav of subordination introducing a purpose after a question (cf. GKC 322 §109.f).
11 tc Heb “his word.” In the second instance (“what he has said” at the end of the verse) the translation follows the suggestion of the Masoretes (Qere) and many Hebrew
11 tn The participle here is intended to be connected with “
13 tn This is a fairly literal translation of the original which reads “No one will take from you a stone for a cornerstone nor a stone for foundations.” There is no unanimity of opinion in the commentaries, many feeling that the figure of the burned mountain continues and others feeling that the figure here shifts to a burned city whose stones are so burned that they are useless to be used in building. The latter is the interpretation adopted here (see, e.g., F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 423; W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:426; NCV).
14 tn Heb “Oracle of the
15 sn The figure here is common in the poetic tradition of the
16 tn Heb “For the plans of the
17 tn The verbs in this verse and v. 30 are all in the past tense in Hebrew, in the tense that views the action as already as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verb in v. 31a, however, is imperfect, viewing the action as future; the perfects that follow are all dependent on that future. Verse 33 looks forward to a time when Babylon will be harvested and trampled like grain on the threshing floor and the imperatives imply a time in the future. Hence the present translation has rendered all the verbs in vv. 29-30 as future.