Jeremiah 10:13

10:13 When his voice thunders, ¹  the heavenly ocean roars.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. ² 

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. ³ 

Jeremiah 51:16

51:16 When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.

Jeremiah 51:31

51:31 One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon.

One messenger after another will come bringing news. ⁴ 

They will bring news to the king of Babylon

that his whole city has been captured. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ⁶  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ⁷ 

against ⁸  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 25:33

25:33 Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time

will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.

They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ¹⁰ 

Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

[10:13]  ¹ tn Heb “At the voice of his giving.” The idiom “to give the voice” is often used for thunder (cf. BDB 679 s.v. נָתַן Qal.1.x).

[10:13]  ² tn Heb “from the ends of the earth.”

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “he brings out the winds from his storehouses.”

[51:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and…” The intent is to portray a relay of runners carrying the news that follows on in vv. 31d-33 to the king of Babylon. The present translation attempts to spell out the significance.

[51:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “Runner will run to meet runner and messenger to meet messenger to report to the king of Babylon that his city has been taken in [its] entirety.” There is general agreement among the commentaries that the first two lines refer to messengers converging on the king of Babylon from every direction bringing news the sum total of which is reported in the lines that follow. For the meaning of the last phrase see BDB 892 s.v. קָצֶה 3 and compare the usage in Gen 19:4 and Isa 56:11. The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

[12:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[25:33]  ¹⁰ sn The intent here is to emphasize the large quantity of those who are killed – there will be too many to insure proper mourning rites and proper burial.