Isaiah 25:12

25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your ¹  walls) ²  he will knock down,

he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground. ³ 

Isaiah 32:19

32:19 Even if the forest is destroyed ⁴ 

and the city is annihilated, ⁵ 

Isaiah 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ⁶  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ⁷  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Jeremiah 50:31-32

50:31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ⁸ 

says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁹ 

“Indeed, ¹⁰  your day of reckoning ¹¹  has come,

the time when I will punish you. ¹² 

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.” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 51:25-26

51:25 The Lord says, ¹⁴  “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! ¹⁵ 

You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.

I will unleash my power against you; ¹⁶ 

I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. ¹⁷ 

51:26 No one will use any of your stones as a cornerstone.

No one will use any of them in the foundation of his house.

For you will lie desolate forever,” ¹⁸ 

says the Lord. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ²⁰ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ²¹ 

Jeremiah 51:64

51:64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments ²²  I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”

The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. ²³ 

Revelation 18:2

18:2 He ²⁴  shouted with a powerful voice:

“Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!

She ²⁵  has become a lair for demons,

a haunt ²⁶  for every unclean spirit,

a haunt for every unclean bird,

a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. ²⁷ 

[25:12]  ¹ sn Moab is addressed.

[25:12]  ² tn Heb “a fortification, the high point of your walls.”

[25:12]  ³ tn Heb “he will bring [it] down, he will make [it] touch the ground, even to the dust.”

[32:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [?] when the forest descends.” The form וּבָרַד (uvarad) is often understood as an otherwise unattested denominative verb meaning “to hail” (HALOT 154 s.v. I ברד). In this case one might translate, “and it hails when the forest is destroyed” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV). Perhaps the text alludes to a powerful wind and hail storm that knocks down limbs and trees. Some prefer to emend the form to וְיָרַד (vÿyarad), “and it descends,” which provides better, though not perfect, symmetry with the parallel line (cf. NAB). Perhaps וּבָרַד should be dismissed as dittographic. In this case the statement (“when the forest descends”) lacks a finite verb and seems incomplete, but perhaps it is subordinate to v. 20.

[32:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in humiliation the city is laid low.”

[47:1]  ⁶ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ⁷ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[50:31]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn Compare v. 27.

[50:32]  ¹³ 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.

[51:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:25]  ¹⁵ 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.

[51:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will reach out my hand against you.” See the translator’s note on 6:12 for explanation.

[51:25]  ¹⁷ 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 Lord, however, will make it a “burned-out mountain,” i.e., an extinct volcano which is barren and desolate. This interpretation seems to this translator to fit the details of the text more consistently than alternative ones which separate the concept of “destroying/destructive” from “mountain” and explain the figure of the mountain to refer to the dominating political position of Babylon and the reference to a “mountain of burning” to be a “burned [or burned over] mountain.” The use of similes in place of metaphors makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figures and also more easily incorporates the dissonant figure of “rolling you down from the cliffs” which involves the figure of personification.

[51:26]  ¹⁸ tn This is a fairly literal translation of the original which reads “No one will take from you a stone for a cornerstone nor a stone for foundations.” There is no unanimity of opinion in the commentaries, many feeling that the figure of the burned mountain continues and others feeling that the figure here shifts to a burned city whose stones are so burned that they are useless to be used in building. The latter is the interpretation adopted here (see, e.g., F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 423; W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:426; NCV).

[51:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

[51:64]  ²² tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:64]  ²³ sn The final chapter of the book of Jeremiah does not mention Jeremiah or record any of his prophecies.

[18:2]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style

[18:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “It” (the subject is embedded in the verb in Greek; the verb only indicates that it is third person). Since the city has been personified as the great prostitute, the feminine pronoun was used in the translation.

[18:2]  ²⁶ tn Here BDAG 1067 s.v. φυλακή 3 states, “a place where guarding is done, prison…Of the nether world or its place of punishment (πνεῦμα 2 and 4c) 1 Pt 3:19 (BReicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism ’46, 116f). It is in a φ. in the latter sense that Satan will be rendered harmless during the millennium Rv 20:7. The fallen city of Babylon becomes a φυλακή haunt for all kinds of unclean spirits and birds 18:2ab.”

[18:2]  ²⁷ tc There are several problems in this verse. It seems that according to the ms evidence the first two phrases (i.e., “and a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean bird” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου, kai fulakh panto" pneumato" akaqartou kai fulakh panto" orneou akaqartou]) are to be regarded as authentic, though there are some ms discrepancies. The similar beginnings (καὶ φυλακὴ παντός) and endings (ἀκαθάρτου) of each phrase would easily account for some mss omitting one or the other phrase. The third phrase (“a haunt for every unclean animal” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς θηρίου ἀκαθάρτου, kai fulakh panto" qhriou akaqartou]), however, is more problematic since it is missing in several important mss (א C 051 Ï). The passage as a whole, including the third phrase, seems to be an allusion to Isa 13:21 and 34:11. It seems reasonable, in such a case, to assume that since there is good ms evidence to support the third phrase (A 1611 2329 al), it probably dropped out of certain mss because of its similarity to the two preceding clauses. It is the presence of all three phrases in the original that most likely gave rise to the divergent ms evidence extant today.