Jeremiah 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ¹ 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ²  back for what she has done. ³ 

Jeremiah 51:45

51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!

Flee to save your lives

from the fierce anger of the Lord! ⁴ 

Numbers 16:26

16:26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ⁵  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ⁶  of all their sins.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 48:20

48:20 Leave Babylon!

Flee from the Babylonians!

Announce it with a shout of joy!

Make this known!

Proclaim it throughout the earth! ⁸ 

Say, ‘The Lord protects ⁹  his servant Jacob.

Isaiah 52:1

52:1 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!

Put on your beautiful clothes,

O Jerusalem, ¹⁰  holy city!

For uncircumcised and unclean pagans

will no longer invade you.

Zechariah 2:6-7

2:6 “You there! ¹¹  Flee from the northland!” says the Lord, “for like the four winds of heaven ¹²  I have scattered you,” says the Lord. 2:7 “Escape, Zion, you who live among the Babylonians!” ¹³ 

Zechariah 2:2

2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ¹⁴  in order to determine its width and its length.”

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ¹⁵  in him.

Revelation 18:4

18:4 Then ¹⁶  I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

¹ tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

² tn Heb “her.”

³ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

⁴ tn Heb “Go out from her [Babylon’s] midst, my people. Save each man his life from the fierce anger of the Lord.” The verb has been paraphrased to prevent gender specific terms.

⁵ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals – they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.

⁶ tn The preposition bet (בְּ) in this line is causal – “on account of their sins.”

⁷ sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.

⁸ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

⁹ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

¹⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹¹ sn These are the scattered Jews of eschatological times (as the expression four winds of heaven makes clear) and not those of Zechariah’s time who have, for the most part, already returned by 520 b.c. This theme continues and is reinforced in vv. 10-13.

¹² tn Or “of the sky.” The same Hebrew term, שָׁמַיִם (shamayim), may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹³ tn Heb “live in [or “with” (cf. NASB), i.e., “among”] the daughter of Babylon” (so NIV; NAB “dwell in daughter Babylon”).

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.