Jeremiah 4:19-21

4:19 I said, ¹ 

“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ² 

I writhe in anguish.

Oh, the pain in my heart! ³ 

My heart pounds within me.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ⁴ 

the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ⁵ 

4:20 I see ⁶  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ⁷  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ⁸  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ⁹ 

4:21 “How long must I see the enemy’s battle flags

and hear the military signals of their bugles?” ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 51:54-56

51:54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,

the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

51:55 For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon,

and put an end to her loud noise.

Their waves ¹¹  will roar like turbulent ¹²  waters.

They will make a deafening noise. ¹³ 

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ¹⁴ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ¹⁵ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ¹⁶ 

he pays back in full. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 21:2-4

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ¹⁸ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ¹⁹ 

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ²⁰ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ²¹  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

21:4 My heart palpitates, ²² 

I shake in fear; ²³ 

the twilight I desired

has brought me terror.

[4:19]  ¹ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.

[4:19]  ² tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”

[4:19]  ³ tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”

[4:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:19]  ⁵ tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).

[4:20]  ⁶ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ⁹ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.

[4:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sound of ram’s horns,” but the modern equivalent is “bugles” and is more readily understandable.

[51:55]  ¹¹ tn The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not entirely clear. It probably refers back to the “destroyers” mentioned in v. 53 as the agents of God’s judgment on Babylon.

[51:55]  ¹² tn Or “mighty waters.”

[51:55]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the noise of their sound will be given,”

[51:56]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ¹⁵ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ¹⁶ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”

[21:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ¹⁹ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[21:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ²¹ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[21:4]  ²² tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”

[21:4]  ²³ tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”