17:12 He 1 is like a lion 2 that wants to tear its prey to bits, 3
like a young lion crouching 4 in hidden places.
10:6 I sent him 5 against a godless 6 nation,
I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, 7
to take plunder and to carry away loot,
to trample them down 8 like dirt in the streets.
10:7 But he does not agree with this,
his mind does not reason this way, 9
for his goal is to destroy,
and to eliminate many nations. 10
10:8 Indeed, 11 he says:
“Are not my officials all kings?
10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?
Hamath like Arpad?
Samaria like Damascus? 12
10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, 13
whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s 14 or Samaria’s.
10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,
so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” 15
10:12 But when 16 the sovereign master 17 finishes judging 18 Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I 19 will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. 20 10:13 For he says:
“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations, 21
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror, 22 I brought down rulers. 23
10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.” 24
51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
devoured me and drove my people out.
Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.
He filled his belly with my riches.
He made me an empty dish.
He completely cleaned me out.” 25
1 tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.
2 tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”
3 tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”
4 tn Heb “sitting.”
5 sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).
6 tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”
7 tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”
8 tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”
9 tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”
10 tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”
11 tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
12 sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717
13 tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).
14 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
15 tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”
16 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
17 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
18 tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”
19 tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.
20 tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.
21 tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”
22 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).
23 tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.
24 sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.
25 tn This verse is extremely difficult to translate because of the shifting imagery, the confusion over the meaning of one of the verbs, and the apparent inconsistency of the pronominal suffixes here with those in the following verse which everyone agrees is connected with it. The pronominal suffixes are first common plural but the versions all read them as first common singular which the Masoretes also do in the Qere. That reading has been followed here for consistency with the next verse which identifies the speaker as the person living in Zion and the personified city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew text reads: “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me [cf. 50:7, 17] and threw me into confusion. He set me down an empty dish. He swallowed me like a monster from the deep [cf. BDB 1072 s.v. תַּנִּין 3 and compare usage in Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; 32:2]. He filled his belly with my dainties. He rinsed me out [cf. BDB s.v. דּוּח Hiph.2 and compare the usage in Isa 4:4].” The verb “throw into confusion” has proved troublesome because its normal meaning does not seem appropriate. Hence various proposals have been made to understand it in a different sense. The present translation has followed W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:428) in understanding the verb to mean “disperse” or “route” (see NAB). The last line has seemed out of place and has often been emended to read “he has spewed me out” (so NIV, NRSV, a reading that presupposes הִדִּיחָנִי [hiddikhani] for הֱדִיחָנִי [hedikhani]). The reading of the MT is not inappropriate if it is combined with the imagery of an empty jar and hence is retained here (see F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 425, n. 59; H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 344; NJPS). The lines have been combined to keep the imagery together.