Jeremiah 51:4

51:4 Let them fall ¹  slain in the land of Babylonia, ² 

mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ³ 

Jeremiah 23:12

23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.

They will stumble and fall headlong.

For I will bring disaster on them.

A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ⁴ 

The Lord affirms it! ⁵ 

Jeremiah 46:6

46:6 But even the swiftest cannot get away.

Even the strongest cannot escape. ⁶ 

There in the north by the Euphrates River

they stumble and fall in defeat. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 20:4

20:4 For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ⁸  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ⁹  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

Jeremiah 25:27

25:27 Then the Lord said to me, ¹⁰  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹¹  says, ¹²  ‘Drink this cup ¹³  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ¹⁴  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ¹⁵ 

¹ tn The majority of English versions and the commentaries understand the vav (ו) consecutive + perfect as a future here “They will fall.” However, it makes better sense in the light of the commands in the previous verse to understand this as an indirect third person command (= a jussive; see GKC 333 §112.q, r) as REB and NJPS do.

² tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

³ tn The words “cities” is not in the text. The text merely says “in her streets” but the antecedent is “land” and must then refer to the streets of the cities in the land.

⁴ tn For the last two lines see 11:23 and the notes there.

⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁷ tn The translation assumes that the adjectives with the article are functioning as superlatives in this context (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). It also assumes that אַל (’al) with the jussive is expressing here an emphatic negative rather than a negative wish (cf. GKC 317 §107.p and compare the usage in Ps 50:3).

⁸ tn Heb “they stumble and fall.” However, the verbs here are used of a fatal fall, of a violent death in battle (see BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.2.a), and a literal translation might not be understood by some readers.

¹⁰ tn Heb “I will make you an object of terror to both you and your friends.”

¹¹ tn Heb “And they will fall by the sword of their enemies and [with] your eyes seeing [it].”

¹³ tn The words “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity, to connect this part of the narrative with vv. 15, 17 after the long intervening list of nations who were to drink the cup of God’s wrath in judgment.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

¹⁶ tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.

¹⁸ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.