Jeremiah 13:13-14

13:13 Then ¹  tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. ²  I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, ³  the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. ⁴  13:14 And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ⁵  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ⁶  says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 25:15-17

Judah and the Nations Will Experience God’s Wrath

25:15 So ⁷  the Lord, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision. ⁸  “Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. ⁹  Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. 25:16 When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro ¹⁰  and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.” ¹¹ 

25:17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. ¹² 

Jeremiah 25:27-29

25:27 Then the Lord said to me, ¹³  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁴  says, ¹⁵  ‘Drink this cup ¹⁶  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ¹⁷  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ¹⁸  25:28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the Lord who rules over all says ¹⁹  ‘You most certainly must drink it! ²⁰  25:29 For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ²¹  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ²²  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ²³  affirm it!’ ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 51:7

51:7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand.

She had made the whole world drunk.

The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. ²⁵ 

So they have all gone mad. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 51:39

51:39 When their appetites are all stirred up, ²⁷ 

I will set out a banquet for them.

I will make them drunk

so that they will pass out, ²⁸ 

they will fall asleep forever,

they will never wake up,” ²⁹ 

says the Lord. ³⁰ 

Jeremiah 51:57

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

along with her governors, leaders, ³¹  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ³² 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ³³ 

Psalms 60:3

60:3 You have made your people experience hard times; ³⁴ 

you have made us drink intoxicating wine. ³⁵ 

Psalms 75:8

75:8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup full

of foaming wine mixed with spices, ³⁶ 

and pours it out. ³⁷ 

Surely all the wicked of the earth

will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.” ³⁸ 

Isaiah 29:9

God’s People are Spiritually Insensitive

29:9 You will be shocked and amazed! ³⁹ 

You are totally blind! ⁴⁰ 

They are drunk, ⁴¹  but not because of wine;

they stagger, ⁴²  but not because of beer.

Isaiah 51:17

51:17 Wake up! Wake up!

Get up, O Jerusalem!

You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you,

which was full of his anger! ⁴³ 

You drained dry

the goblet full of intoxicating wine. ⁴⁴ 

Isaiah 63:6

63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,

I made them drunk ⁴⁵  in my rage,

I splashed their blood on the ground.” ⁴⁶ 

Lamentations 3:15

3:15 He has given me my fill of bitter herbs

and made me drunk with bitterness. ⁴⁷ 

Lamentations 4:21

The Prophet Speaks:

ש (Sin/Shin)

4:21 Rejoice and be glad for now, ⁴⁸  O people of Edom, ⁴⁹ 

who reside in the land of Uz.

But the cup of judgment ⁵⁰  will pass ⁵¹  to you also;

you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

Ezekiel 23:31-34

23:31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment ⁵²  in your hand. 23:32 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup; ⁵³  you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 23:33 You will be overcome by ⁵⁴  drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 23:34 You will drain it dry, ⁵⁵  gnaw its pieces, ⁵⁶  and tear out your breasts, ⁵⁷  for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.

Nahum 3:11

3:11 You too will act like drunkards; ⁵⁸ 

you will go into hiding; ⁵⁹ 

you too will seek refuge from the enemy.

Revelation 16:19

16:19 The ⁶⁰  great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations ⁶¹  collapsed. ⁶²  So ⁶³  Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup ⁶⁴  filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. ⁶⁵ 

[13:13]  ¹ tn The Greek version is likely right in interpreting the construction of two perfects preceded by the conjunction as contingent or consequential here, i.e., “and when they say…then say.” See GKC 494 §159.g. However, to render literally would create a long sentence. Hence, the words “will probably” have been supplied in v. 12 in the translation to set up the contingency/consequential sequence in the English sentences.

[13:13]  ² sn It is probably impossible to convey in a simple translation all the subtle nuances that are wrapped up in the words of this judgment speech. The word translated “stupor” here is literally “drunkenness” but the word has in the context an undoubted intended double reference. It refers first to the drunken like stupor of confusion on the part of leaders and citizens of the land which will cause them to clash with one another. But it also probably refers to the reeling under God’s wrath that results from this (cf. Jer 25:15-29, especially vv. 15-16). Moreover there is still the subtle little play on wine jars. The people are like the wine jars which were supposed to be filled with wine. They were to be a special people to bring glory to God but they had become corrupt. Hence, like wine jars they would be smashed against one another and broken to pieces (v. 14). All of this, both “fill them with the stupor of confusion” and “make them reel under God’s wrath,” cannot be conveyed in one translation.

[13:13]  ³ tn Heb “who sit on David’s throne.”

[13:13]  ⁴ tn In Hebrew this is all one long sentence with one verb governing compound objects. It is broken up here in conformity with English style.

[13:14]  ⁵ tn Or “children along with their parents”; Heb “fathers and children together.”

[13:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will not show…so as not to destroy them.”

[25:15]  ⁷ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) which is probably being used in the sense that BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c notes, i.e., the causal connection is somewhat loose, related here to the prophecies against the nations. “So” seems to be the most appropriate way to represent this.

[25:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, to me.” It is generally understood that the communication is visionary. God does not have a “hand” and the action of going to the nations and making them drink of the cup are scarcely literal. The words are supplied in the translation to show the figurative nature of this passage.

[25:15]  ⁹ sn “Drinking from the cup of wrath” is a common figure to represent being punished by God. Isaiah had used it earlier to refer to the punishment which Judah was to suffer and from which God would deliver her (Isa 51:17, 22) and Jeremiah’s contemporary Habakkuk uses it of Babylon “pouring out its wrath” on the nations and in turn being forced to drink the bitter cup herself (Hab 2:15-16). In Jer 51:7 the Lord will identify Babylon as the cup which makes the nations stagger. In v. 16 drinking from the cup will be identified with the sword (i.e., wars) that the Lord will send against the nations. Babylon is also to be identified as the sword (cf. Jer 51:20-23). What is being alluded to here in highly figurative language is the judgment that the Lord will wreak on the nations listed here through the Babylonians. The prophecy given here in symbolical form is thus an expansion of the one in vv. 9-11.

[25:16]  ¹⁰ tn There is some debate about the meaning of the verb here. Both BDB 172 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hithpo and KBL 191 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hitpol interpret this of the back and forth movement of staggering. HALOT 192 s.v. גָּעַשׁ Hitpo interprets it as vomiting. The word is used elsewhere of the up and down movement of the mountains (2 Sam 22:8) and the up and down movement of the rolling waves of the Nile (Jer 46:7, 8). The fact that a different verb is used in v. 27 for vomiting would appear to argue against it referring to vomiting (contra W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:674; it is “they” that do this not their stomachs).

[25:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among them.” Here, as often elsewhere in Jeremiah, the sword is figurative for warfare which brings death. See, e.g., 15:2. The causal particle here is found in verbal locutions where it is the cause of emotional states or action. Hence there are really two “agents” which produce the effects of “staggering” and “acting insane,” the cup filled with God’s wrath and the sword. The sword is the “more literal” and the actual agent by which the first agent’s action is carried out.

[25:17]  ¹² tn The words “the wine of his wrath” are not in the text but are implicit in the metaphor (see vv. 15-16). They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[25:27]  ¹³ tn The words “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity, to connect this part of the narrative with vv. 15, 17 after the long intervening list of nations who were to drink the cup of God’s wrath in judgment.

[25:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[25:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

[25:27]  ¹⁶ tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[25:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.

[25:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.

[25:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord…’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quote marks to help avoid confusion.

[25:28]  ²⁰ tn The translation attempts to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute preceding the finite verb which is here an obligatory imperfect. (See Joüon 2:371-72 §113.m and 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Gen 15:13.)

[25:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “which is called by my name.” See translator’s note on 7:10 for support.

[25:29]  ²² tn This is an example of a question without the formal introductory particle following a conjunctive vav introducing an opposition. (See Joüon 2:609 §161.a.) It is also an example of the use of the infinitive before the finite verb in a rhetorical question involving doubt or denial. (See Joüon 2:422-23 §123.f, and compare usage in Gen 37:8.)

[25:29]  ²³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.”

[51:7]  ²⁵ tn The words “of her wrath” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to help those readers who are not familiar with the figure of the “cup of the Lord’s wrath.”

[51:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “upon the grounds of such conditions the nations have gone mad.”

[51:39]  ²⁷ tn Heb “When they are hot.”

[51:39]  ²⁸ tc The translation follows the suggestion of KBL 707 s.v. עָלַז and a number of modern commentaries (e.g., Bright, J. A. Thompson, and W. L. Holladay) in reading יְעֻלְּפוּ (ye’ullÿfu) for יַעֲלֹזוּ (ya’alozu) in the sense of “swoon away” or “grow faint” (see KBL 710 s.v. עָלַף Pual). That appears to be the verb that the LXX (the Greek version) was reading when they translated καρωθῶσιν (karwqwsin, “they will be stupefied”). For parallel usage KBL cites Isa 51:20. This fits the context much better than “they will exult” in the Hebrew text.

[51:39]  ²⁹ sn The central figure here is the figure of the cup of the Lord’s wrath (cf. 25:15-29, especially v. 26). Here the Babylonians have been made to drink so deeply of it that they fall into a drunken sleep from which they will never wake up (i.e., they die, death being compared to sleep [cf. Ps 13:3 (13:4 HT); 76:5 (76:6 HT); 90:5]). Compare the usage in Jer 51:57 for this same figure.

[51:39]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:57]  ³¹ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ³² sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ³³ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.

[60:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you have caused your people to see [what is] hard.”

[60:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “wine of staggering,” that is, intoxicating wine that makes one stagger in drunkenness. Intoxicating wine is here an image of divine judgment that makes its victims stagger like drunkards. See Isa 51:17-23.

[75:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for a cup [is] in the hand of the Lord, and wine foams, it is full of a spiced drink.” The noun מֶסֶךְ (mesekh) refers to a “mixture” of wine and spices.

[75:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he pours out from this.”

[75:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “surely its dregs they slurp up and drink, all the wicked of the earth.”

[29:9]  ³⁹ tn The form הִתְמַהְמְהוּ (hitmahmÿhu) is a Hitpalpel imperative from מָהַהּ (mahah, “hesitate”). If it is retained, one might translate “halt and be amazed.” The translation assumes an emendation to הִתַּמְּהוּ (hittammÿhu), a Hitpael imperative from תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). In this case, the text, like Hab 1:5, combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of תָּמַה (tamah). A literal translation might be “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sound draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572 §34.4c.

[29:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Blind yourselves and be blind!” The Hitpalpel and Qal imperatival forms of שָׁעַע (sha’a’, “be blind”) are combined to draw attention to the statement. The imperatives have the force of an emphatic assertion.

[29:9]  ⁴¹ tc Some prefer to emend the perfect form of the verb to an imperative (e.g., NAB, NCV, NRSV), since the people are addressed in the immediately preceding and following contexts.

[29:9]  ⁴² tc Some prefer to emend the perfect form of the verb to an imperative (e.g., NAB, NCV, NRSV), since the people are addressed in the immediately preceding and following contexts.

[51:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “[you] who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his anger.”

[51:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the goblet, the cup [that causes] staggering, you drank, you drained.”

[63:6]  ⁴⁵ sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.

[63:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).

[3:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “wormwood” or “bitterness” (BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה; HALOT 533 s.v. לַעֲנָה).

[4:21]  ⁴⁸ tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).

[4:21]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:21]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, red wine drooling out of his mouth – resembling corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard will reel and stagger, causing bodily injury to himself – an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).

[4:21]  ⁵¹ tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request, “let the cup pass…”

[23:31]  ⁵² tn Heb “her cup.” A cup of intoxicating strong drink is used, here and elsewhere, as a metaphor for judgment because both leave one confused and reeling. (See Jer 25:15, 17, 28; Hab 2:16.) The cup of wrath is a theme also found in the NT (Mark 14:36).

[23:32]  ⁵³ sn The image of a deep and wide cup suggests the degree of punishment; it will be extensive and leave the victim helpless.

[23:33]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[23:34]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “You will drink it and drain (it).”

[23:34]  ⁵⁶ tn D. I. Block compares this to the idiom of “licking the plate” (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:754, n. 137). The text is difficult as the word translated “gnaw” is rare. The noun is used of the shattered pieces of pottery and so could envision a broken cup. But the Piel verb form is used in only one other place (Num 24:8), where it is a denominative from the noun “bone” and seems to mean to “break (bones).” Why it would be collocated with “sherds” is not clear. For this reason some emend the phrase to read “consume its dregs” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:44) or emend the verb to read “swallow,” as if the intoxicated Oholibah breaks the cup and then eats the very sherds in an effort to get every last drop of the beverage that dampens them.

[23:34]  ⁵⁷ sn The severe action is more extreme than beating the breasts in anguish (Isa 32:12; Nah 2:7). It is also ironic for these are the very breasts she so blatantly offered to her lovers (vv. 3, 21).

[3:11]  ⁵⁸ tc The editors of BHS suggest emending the MT reading, the Qal imperfect תִּשְׁכְּרִי (tishkÿri, “you will become drunk”) from שָׁכַר (shakhar, “to become drunk”; BDB 1016 s.v. שָׁכַר; HALOT 971 s.v. שׁכר). However, there is no external textual support for the emendation. The imagery of drunkenness is a common figure for defeat in battle.

[3:11]  ⁵⁹ tc The MT reads the Niphal participle נַעֲלָמָה (na’alamah) from I עָלַם (’alam, “to conceal”). This is supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls, נעלמה (4QpNah 3:11), and is reflected by the LXX. Several scholars suggest nuancing the Niphal in a passive sense: “you will be concealed” or “you will be obscured” (BDB 761 s.v. I. עָלַם 2). However, the reflexive sense “you will conceal yourself; you will hide yourself” (e.g., Ps 26:4) is better (HALOT 835 s.v. עלם). On the other hand, the BHS editors suggest emending to the Niphal participle נֶעֱלָפָה (ne’elafah) from עָלַף (’alaf, “become faint”): “you will become faint,” “you will pass out,” or “you will swoon” (HALOT 836 s.v. עלף; BDB 761 s.v. I. עָלַם 2). This is unnecessary and lacks textual support.

[16:19]  ⁶⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:19]  ⁶¹ tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[16:19]  ⁶² tn Grk “fell.”

[16:19]  ⁶³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).

[16:19]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “the cup of the wine of the anger of the wrath of him.” The concatenation of four genitives has been rendered somewhat differently by various translations (see the note on the word “wrath”).

[16:19]  ⁶⁵ tn Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumo") and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her.