Jeremiah 49:2

49:2 Because you did that,

I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  a time is coming

when I will make Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon,

hear the sound of the battle cry.

It will become a mound covered with ruins. ² 

Its villages will be burned to the ground. ³ 

Then Israel will take back its land

from those who took their land from them.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

Galatians 4:26

4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, ⁵  and she is our mother.

Revelation 17:5

17:5 On ⁶  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ⁷  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

¹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “a desolate tel.” For the explanation of what a “tel” is see the study note on 30:18.

³ tn Heb “Its daughters will be burned with fire.” For the use of the word “daughters” to refer to the villages surrounding a larger city see BDB 123 s.v. I בַּת 4 and compare the usage in Judg 1:27.

⁴ tn Heb “says the Lord.” The first person is used to maintain the first person address throughout.

⁵ sn The meaning of the statement the Jerusalem above is free is that the other woman represents the second covenant (cf. v. 24); she corresponds to the Jerusalem above that is free. Paul’s argument is very condensed at this point.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).