Jeremiah 25:32

25:32 The Lord who rules over all ¹  says,

‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ² 

A mighty storm of military destruction ³  is rising up

from the distant parts of the earth.’

Jeremiah 31:36

31:36 The Lord affirms, ⁴  “The descendants of Israel will not

cease forever to be a nation in my sight.

That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights

were to cease to operate before me.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 49:31

49:31 The Lord says, ⁶  “Army of Babylon, ⁷  go and attack

a nation that lives in peace and security.

They have no gates or walls to protect them. ⁸ 

They live all alone.

[25:32]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:32]  ² tn Heb “will go forth from nation to nation.”

[25:32]  ³ tn The words “of military destruction” have been supplied in the translation to make the metaphor clear. The metaphor has shifted from that of God as a lion, to God as a warrior, to God as a judge, to God as the author of the storm winds of destruction.

[31:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘then the seed of Israel could cease from being a nation before me forever (or more literally, “all the days”).’” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to modern style. The connection has been maintained by reversing the order of condition and consequence and still retaining the condition in the second clause. For the meaning of “cease to operate” for the verb מוּשׁ (mush) compare the usage in Isa 54:10; Ps 55:11 (55:12 HT); Prov 17:13 where what is usually applied to persons or things is applied to abstract things like this (see HALOT 506 s.v. II מוּשׁ Qal for general usage).

[49:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:31]  ⁸ tn The words “Army of Babylon” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[49:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “no gates and no bar,” i.e., “that lives securely without gates or bars.” The phrase is used by the figure of species for genus (synecdoche) to refer to the fact that they have no defenses, i.e., no walls, gates, or bars on the gates. The figure has been interpreted in the translation for the benefit of the average reader.