Isaiah 13:5

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon. ¹ 

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment, ² 

coming to destroy the whole earth. ³ 

Isaiah 21:9

21:9 Look what’s coming!

A charioteer,

a team of horses.” ⁴ 

When questioned, he replies, ⁵ 

“Babylon has fallen, fallen!

All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

Isaiah 43:14

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says,

your protector, ⁶  the Holy One of Israel: ⁷ 

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and make them all fugitives, ⁸ 

turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁹ 

Isaiah 47:9-14

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹⁰ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ¹¹ 

despite ¹²  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ¹³ 

47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; ¹⁴ 

you thought, ¹⁵  ‘No one sees me.’

Your self-professed ¹⁶  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,

when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ¹⁷ 

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ¹⁸ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ¹⁹ 

47:12 Persist ²⁰  in trusting ²¹  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ²²  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ²³  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ²⁴ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ²⁵ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ²⁶ 

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ²⁷  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 50:26-27

50:26 Come from far away and attack Babylonia! ²⁹ 

Open up the places where she stores her grain!

Pile her up in ruins! ³⁰  Destroy her completely! ³¹ 

Do not leave anyone alive! ³² 

50:27 Kill all her soldiers! ³³ 

Let them be slaughtered! ³⁴ 

They are doomed, ³⁵  for their day of reckoning ³⁶  has come,

the time for them to be punished.”

Jeremiah 50:29-35

50:29 “Call for archers ³⁷  to come against Babylon!

Summon against her all who draw the bow!

Set up camp all around the city!

Do not allow anyone to escape!

Pay her back for what she has done.

Do to her what she has done to others.

For she has proudly defied me, ³⁸ 

the Holy One of Israel. ³⁹ 

50:30 So her young men will fall in her city squares.

All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”

says the Lord. ⁴⁰ 

50:31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ⁴¹ 

says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁴² 

“Indeed, ⁴³  your day of reckoning ⁴⁴  has come,

the time when I will punish you. ⁴⁵ 

50:32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city;

no one will help you get up.

I will set fire to your towns;

it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ⁴⁶ 

50:33 The Lord who rules over all ⁴⁷  says,

“The people of Israel are oppressed.

So too are the people of Judah. ⁴⁸ 

All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.

They refuse to set them free.

50:34 But the one who will rescue them ⁴⁹  is strong.

He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ⁵⁰ 

He will strongly ⁵¹  champion their cause.

As a result ⁵²  he will bring peace and rest to the earth,

but trouble and turmoil ⁵³  to the people who inhabit Babylonia. ⁵⁴ 

50:35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians,” ⁵⁵  says the Lord. ⁵⁶ 

“They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia,

against her leaders and her men of wisdom.

Jeremiah 51:3-4

51:3 Do not give her archers time to string their bows

or to put on their coats of armor. ⁵⁷ 

Do not spare any of her young men.

Completely destroy ⁵⁸  her whole army.

51:4 Let them fall ⁵⁹  slain in the land of Babylonia, ⁶⁰ 

mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ⁶¹ 

Jeremiah 51:56-57

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ⁶² 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ⁶³ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ⁶⁴ 

he pays back in full. ⁶⁵ 

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

along with her governors, leaders, ⁶⁶  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ⁶⁷ 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ⁶⁸ 

[13:5]  ¹ tn Heb “from the end of the sky.”

[13:5]  ² tn Or “anger”; cf. KJV, ASV “the weapons of his indignation.”

[13:5]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “land” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT). Even though the heading and subsequent context (see v. 17) indicate Babylon’s judgment is in view, the chapter has a cosmic flavor that suggests that the coming judgment is universal in scope. Perhaps Babylon’s downfall occurs in conjunction with a wider judgment, or the cosmic style is poetic hyperbole used to emphasize the magnitude and importance of the coming event.

[21:9]  ⁴ tn Or “[with] teams of horses,” or perhaps, “with a pair of horsemen.”

[21:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he answered and said” (so KJV, ASV).

[43:14]  ⁶ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[43:14]  ⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

[43:14]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.

[47:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ¹² tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ¹³ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[47:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”

[47:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”

[47:10]  ¹⁶ tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[47:10]  ¹⁷ tn See the note at v. 8.

[47:11]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[47:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ²¹ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ²² tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ²³ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[47:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

[47:14]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

[50:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Come against her from the end.” There is a great deal of debate about the meaning of “from the end” (מִקֵּץ, miqqets). Some follow the suggestion of F. Giesebrecht in BDB 892 s.v. קָצֶה 3 and emend the text to מִקָּצֶה (miqqatseh) on the basis of the presumed parallel in Jer 51:31 which is interpreted as “on all sides,” i.e., “from every quarter/side.” However, the phrase does not mean that in Jer 51:31 but is used as it is elsewhere of “from one end to another,” i.e., in its entirety (so Gen 19:4). The only real parallel here is the use of the noun קֵץ (qets) with a suffix in Isa 37:24 referring to the remotest part, hence something like from the end (of the earth), i.e., from a far away place. The referent “her” has been clarified here to refer to Babylonia in case someone might not see the connection between v. 25d and v. 26.

[50:26]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Pile her up like heaps.” Many commentators understand the comparison to be to heaps of grain (compare usage of עֲרֵמָה (’aremah) in Hag 2:16; Neh 13:15; Ruth 3:7). However, BDB 790 s.v. עֲרֵמָה is more likely correct that this refers to heaps of ruins (compare the usage in Neh 4:2 [3:34 HT]).

[50:26]  ³¹ sn Compare Jer 50:21 and see the study note on 25:9.

[50:26]  ³² tn Heb “Do not let there be to her a remnant.” According to BDB 984 s.v. שְׁאֵרִית this refers to the last remnant of people, i.e., there won’t be any survivors. Compare the usage in Jer 11:23.

[50:27]  ³³ tn Heb “Kill all her young bulls.” Commentators are almost universally agreed that the reference to “young bulls” is figurative here for the princes and warriors (cf. BDB 831 s.v. פַּר 2.f, which compares Isa 34:7 and Ezek 39:18). This is virtually certain because of the reference to the time coming for them to be punished; this would scarcely fit literal bulls. For the verb rendered “kill” here see the translator’s note on v. 21.

[50:27]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Let them go down to the slaughter.”

[50:27]  ³⁵ tn Or “How terrible it will be for them”; Heb “Woe to them.” See the study note on 22:13 and compare the usage in 23:1; 48:1.

[50:27]  ³⁶ tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:29]  ³⁷ tn For this word see BDB 914 s.v. III רַב and compare usage in Prov 26:10 and Job 16:12 and compare the usage of the verb in Gen 49:23. Based on this evidence, it is not necessary to emend the form to רֹבִים (rovim) as many commentators contend.

[50:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for she has acted insolently against the Lord.” Once again there is the problem of the Lord speaking about himself in the third person (or the prophet dropping his identification with the Lord). As in several other places the present translation, along with several other modern English versions (TEV, CEV, NIrV), has substituted the first person to maintain consistency with the context.

[50:29]  ³⁹ sn The Holy One of Israel is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah. It is applied to the Lord only here and in 51:5 in the book of Jeremiah. It is a figure where an attribute of a person is put as a title of a person (compare “your majesty” for a king). It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[50:30]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[50:31]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Behold, I am against you, proud one.” The word “city” is not in the text but it is generally agreed that the word is being used as a personification of the city which had “proudly defied” the Lord (v. 29). The word “city” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:31]  ⁴² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord Yahweh of armies.” For the rendering of this title and an explanation of its significance see the study note on 2:19.

[50:31]  ⁴³ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is probably asseverative here (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 739, n. 13, and cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e for other examples). This has been a common use of this particle in the book of Jeremiah.

[50:31]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[50:31]  ⁴⁵ sn Compare v. 27.

[50:32]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “And the proud one will fall and there will be no one to help him up. I will start a fire in his towns and it will consume all that surround him.” The personification continues but now the stance is indirect (third person) rather than direct (second person). It is easier for the modern reader who is not accustomed to such sudden shifts if the second person is maintained. The personification of the city (or nation) as masculine is a little unusual; normally cities and nations are personified as feminine, as daughters or mothers.

[50:33]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:33]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Oppressed are the people of Israel and the people of Judah together,” i.e., both the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. However, neither of these renderings is very poetic. The translation seeks to achieve the same meaning with better poetic expression.

[50:34]  ⁴⁹ sn Heb “their redeemer.” The Hebrew term “redeemer” referred in Israelite family law to the nearest male relative who was responsible for securing the freedom of a relative who had been sold into slavery. For further discussion of this term as well as its metaphorical use to refer to God as the one who frees Israel from bondage in Egypt and from exile in Assyria and Babylonia see the study note on 31:11.

[50:34]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:34]  ⁵¹ tn Or “he will certainly champion.” The infinitive absolute before the finite verb here is probably functioning to intensify the verb rather than to express the certainty of the action (cf. GKC 333 §112.n and compare usage in Gen 43:3 and 1 Sam 20:6 listed there).

[50:34]  ⁵² tn This appears to be another case where the particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a result rather than giving the purpose or goal. See the translator’s note on 25:7 for a listing of other examples in the book of Jeremiah and also the translator’s note on 27:10.

[50:34]  ⁵³ tn Heb “he will bring rest to the earth and will cause unrest to.” The terms “rest” and “unrest” have been doubly translated to give more of the idea underlying these two concepts.

[50:34]  ⁵⁴ tn This translation again reflects the problem often encountered in these prophecies where the Lord appears to be speaking but refers to himself in the third person. It would be possible to translate here using the first person as CEV and NIrV do. However, to sustain that over the whole verse results in a considerably greater degree of paraphrase. The verse could be rendered “But I am strong and I will rescue them. I am the Lord who rules over all. I will champion their cause. And I will bring peace and rest to….”

[50:35]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” For explanation of the rendering see the study note on 21:4. There is no verb in this clause. Therefore it is difficult to determine whether this should be understood as a command or as a prediction. The presence of vav (ו) consecutive perfects after a similar construction in vv. 36b, d, 37c, 38a and the imperfects after “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) all suggest the predictive or future nuance. However, the vav consecutive perfect could be used to carry on the nuance of command (cf. GKC 333 §112.q) but not in the sense of purpose as NRSV, NJPS render them.

[50:35]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:3]  ⁵⁷ tc The text and consequent meaning of these first two lines are uncertain. Literally the Masoretic reads “against let him string let him string the one who strings his bow and against let him raise himself up in his coat of armor.” This makes absolutely no sense and the ancient versions and Hebrew mss did not agree in reading this same text. Many Hebrew mss and all the versions as well as the Masoretes themselves (the text is left unpointed with a marginal note not to read it) delete the second “let him string.” The LXX (or Greek version) left out the words “against” at the beginning of the first two lines. It reads “Let the archer bend his bow and let the one who has armor put it on.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX and some Targum mss supplied the missing object “it” and thus read “Let the archer ready his bow against it and let him array himself against it in his coat of mail.” This makes good sense but does not answer the question of why the Hebrew text left off the suffix on the preposition twice in a row. Many Hebrew mss and the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate (the Latin version) change the pointing of “against” (אֶל [’el]) to “not” (אַל [’al]) and thus read “Let the archer not string the bow and let him not array himself in his armor.” However, many commentators feel that this does not fit the context because it would apparently be addressed to the Babylonians, not the enemy, which would create a sudden shift in addressee with the second half of the verse. However, if it is understood in the sense taken here it refers to the enemy not allowing the Babylonian archers to get ready for the battle, i.e., a surprise attack. This sense is suggested as an alternative in J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 346, n. u-u, and J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 747, n. 5, and is the interpretation adopted in TEV and probably also in NIrV.

[51:3]  ⁵⁸ sn For the concept underlying this word see the study note on “utterly destroy” in Jer 25:9 and compare the usage in 50:21, 26.

[51:4]  ⁵⁹ 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.

[51:4]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[51:4]  ⁶¹ 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.

[51:56]  ⁶² tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ⁶³ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ⁶⁵ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”

[51:57]  ⁶⁶ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ⁶⁷ sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ⁶⁸ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.