51:13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon, 1
the time of your end has come.
You who are rich in plundered treasure,
it is time for your lives to be cut off. 2
19:10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, 3 planted by water.
It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.
19:6 Then 14 I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: 15
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God, 16 the All-Powerful, 17 reigns!
1 sn Babylon was situated on the Euphrates River and was surrounded by canals (also called “rivers”).
2 tn Heb “You who live upon [or beside] many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the cubit of your cutting off.” The sentence has been restructured and paraphrased to provide clarity for the average reader. The meaning of the last phrase is debated. For a discussion of the two options see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:423. Most modern commentaries and English versions see an allusion to the figure in Isa 38:12 where the reference is to the end of life compared to a tapestry which is suddenly cut off from the loom. Hence, NRSV renders the last line as “the thread of your life is cut” and TEV renders “its thread of life is cut.” That idea is accepted also in HALOT 141 s.v. בצע Qal.1.
3 tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב-כ (beth-kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.
4 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
5 sn This same title appears in 8:4; 9:3; 10:19; and 11:22.
6 sn Earlier Ezekiel had observed God leaving the temple to the east (11:23).
7 sn See Ezek 1:24; Rev 1:15; 14:2; 19:6.
8 tn Heb “shone from.”
9 tn The precise meaning of the term translated “polished bronze” (χαλκολιβάνῳ, calkolibanw), which appears nowhere else in Greek literature outside of the book of Revelation (see 2:18), is uncertain. Without question it is some sort of metal. BDAG 1076 s.v. χαλκολίβανον suggests “fine brass/bronze.” L&N 2.57 takes the word to refer to particularly valuable or fine bronze, but notes that the emphasis here and in Rev 2:18 is more on the lustrous quality of the metal.
10 tn Or “that has been heated in a furnace until it glows.”
11 tn Grk “sound,” but the idea is closer to the roar of a waterfall or rapids.
12 tn Or “a voice” (cf. Rev 1:15), but since in this context nothing is mentioned as the content of the voice, it is preferable to translate φωνή (fwnh) as “sound” here.
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a new topic.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
15 tn Grk “like the voice of a large crowd…saying.” Because of the complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the words “They were.”
16 tc Several
17 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22…κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ὁ π. Rv 19:6.”