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! ¹ 

Say, ‘The Lord protects ²  his servant Jacob.

Jeremiah 50:8

50:8 “People of Judah, ³  get out of Babylon quickly!

Leave the land of Babylonia! ⁴ 

Be the first to depart! ⁵ 

Be like the male goats that lead the herd.

Jeremiah 51:6

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

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 ⁷  back for what she has done. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 51:45

51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!

Flee to save your lives

from the fierce anger of the Lord! ⁹ 

Zechariah 2:6-7

2:6 “You there! ¹⁰  Flee from the northland!” says the Lord, “for like the four winds of heaven ¹¹  I have scattered you,” says the Lord. 2:7 “Escape, Zion, you who live among the Babylonians!” ¹² 

Zechariah 2:2

2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ¹³  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 ¹⁴  in him.

Revelation 18:4

18:4 Then ¹⁵  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,

[48:20]  ¹ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[48:20]  ² tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[50:8]  ³ tn The words “People of Judah” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the subject of the address.

[50:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:8]  ⁵ tn The words “Be the first to leave” are not in the text but spell out the significance of the simile that follows. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[51:6]  ⁶ 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).

[51:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[51:45]  ⁹ 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.

[2:6]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “of the sky.” The same Hebrew term, שָׁמַיִם (shamayim), may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[2:7]  ¹² tn Heb “live in [or “with” (cf. NASB), i.e., “among”] the daughter of Babylon” (so NIV; NAB “dwell in daughter Babylon”).

[2:2]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:17]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[18:4]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.