Jeremiah 51:39

51:39 When their appetites are all stirred up, ¹ 

I will set out a banquet for them.

I will make them drunk

so that they will pass out, ² 

they will fall asleep forever,

they will never wake up,” ³ 

says the Lord. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 51:57

51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

along with her governors, leaders, ⁵  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ⁶ 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ⁷ 

Ephesians 5:14

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ⁸ 

“Awake, ⁹  O sleeper! ¹⁰ 

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!” ¹¹ 

¹ tn Heb “When they are hot.”

² 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.

³ sn The central figure here is the figure of the cup of the Lord’s wrath (cf. 25:15-29, especially v. 26). Here the Babylonians have been made to drink so deeply of it that they fall into a drunken sleep from which they will never wake up (i.e., they die, death being compared to sleep [cf. Ps 13:3 (13:4 HT); 76:5 (76:6 HT); 90:5]). Compare the usage in Jer 51:57 for this same figure.

⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁵ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

⁶ sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

⁷ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.

⁸ sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

⁹ tn Grk “Rise up.”

¹⁰ tn The articular nominative participle ὁ καθεύδων (Jo kaqeudwn) is probably functioning as a nominative for vocative. Thus, it has been translated as “O sleeper.”

¹¹ sn A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.