2:14 for all the tall mountains,
for all the high hills, 4
2:15 for every high tower,
for every fortified wall,
2:16 for all the large ships, 5
for all the impressive 6 ships. 7
2:17 Proud men will be humiliated,
arrogant men will be brought low; 8
the Lord alone will be exalted 9
in that day.
3:23 We know our noisy worship of false gods
on the hills and mountains did not help us. 10
We know that the Lord our God
is the only one who can deliver Israel. 11
4:23 “I looked at the land and saw 12 that it was an empty wasteland. 13
I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.
4:24 I looked at the mountains and saw that they were shaking.
All the hills were swaying back and forth!
4:25 I looked and saw that there were no more people, 14
and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.
4:26 I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert
and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins.
The Lord had brought this all about
because of his blazing anger. 15
51:25 The Lord says, 16 “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! 17
You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.
I will unleash my power against you; 18
I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. 19
3:6 He takes his battle position 20 and shakes 21 the earth;
with a mere look he frightens 22 the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrate; 23
the primeval hills are flattened.
He travels on the ancient roads. 24
3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through. 25
The great deep 26 shouts out;
it lifts its hands high. 27
1 tn Grk “And every.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn Or “vanished.”
3 sn Every island fled away and no mountains could be found. Major geographical and topographical changes will accompany the Day of the Lord.
4 sn The high mountains and hills symbolize the apparent security of proud men, as do the high tower and fortified wall of v. 15.
5 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.
6 tn Heb “desirable”; NAB, NIV “stately”; NRSV “beautiful.”
7 tn On the meaning of this word, which appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 41-42.
8 tn Heb “and the pride of men will be brought down, and the arrogance of men will be brought low.” As in v. 11, the repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
9 tn Or “elevated”; NCV “praised”; CEV “honored.”
10 tn Heb “Truly in vain from the hills the noise/commotion [and from] the mountains.” The syntax of the Hebrew sentence is very elliptical here.
11 tn Heb “Truly in the
12 tn Heb “I looked at the land and behold...” This indicates the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future condition of the land of Israel.
13 tn Heb “formless and empty.” This is a case of hendiadys (two nouns joined by “and” both describe the same thing): one noun retains its full nominal force, the other functions as an adjective. The words תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) allude to Gen 1:2, hyperbolically picturing a reversal of creation and return to the original precreation chaos.
14 tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”
15 tn Heb “because of the
16 tn Heb “Oracle of the
17 tn The word “Babylon” is not in the text but is universally understood as the referent. It is supplied in the translation here to clarify the referent for the sake of the average reader.
18 tn Heb “I will reach out my hand against you.” See the translator’s note on 6:12 for explanation.
19 tn Heb “I am against you, oh destroying mountain that destroys all the earth. I will reach out my hand against you and roll you down from the cliffs and make you a mountain of burning.” The interpretation adopted here follows the lines suggested by S. R. Driver, Jeremiah, 318, n. c and reflected also in BDB 977 s.v. שְׂרֵפָה. Babylon is addressed as a destructive mountain because it is being compared to a volcano. The
20 tn Heb “he stands.”
21 tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).
22 tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”
23 tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”
24 tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the
25 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
26 sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.
27 sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.