Jeremiah 49:35-39

49:35 The Lord who rules over all said,

“I will kill all the archers of Elam,

who are the chief source of her military might. ¹ 

49:36 I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every direction

like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.

I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.

There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go. ² 

49:37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,

who are seeking to kill them.

I will vent my fierce anger

and bring disaster upon them,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

“I will send armies chasing after them ⁵ 

until I have completely destroyed them.

49:38 I will establish my sovereignty over Elam. ⁶ 

I will destroy their king and their leaders,” ⁷  says the Lord. ⁸ 

49:39 “Yet in days to come

I will reverse Elam’s ill fortune.” ⁹ 

says the Lord. ¹⁰ 

[49:35]  ¹ tn Heb “I will break the bow of Elam, the chief source of their might.” The phrase does not mean that God will break literal bows or that he will destroy their weapons (synecdoche of species for genus) or their military power (so Hos 1:5). Because of the parallelism, the “bow” here stands for the archers who wield the bow, and were the strongest force (or chief contingent) in their military.

[49:36]  ² tn Or more simply, “I will bring enemies against Elam from every direction. / And I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds. // There won’t be any nation / where the refugees of Elam will not go.” Or more literally, “I will bring the four winds against Elam / from the four quarters of heaven. / I will scatter….” However, the winds are not to be understood literally here. God isn’t going to “blow the Elamites” out of Elam with natural forces. The winds must figuratively represent enemy forces that God will use to drive them out. Translating literally would be misleading at this point.

[49:37]  ³ tn Heb “I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger.”

[49:37]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:37]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.”

[49:38]  ⁶ tn Or “I will sit in judgment over Elam”; Heb “I will set up my throne in Elam.” Commentators are divided over whether this refers to a king sitting in judgment over his captured enemies or whether it refers to formally establishing his rule over the country. Those who argue for the former idea point to the supposed parallels in 1:15 (which the present translation understands not to refer to this but to setting up siege) and 43:8-13. The parallelism in the verse here, however, argues that it refers to the Lord taking over the reins of government by destroying their former leaders.

[49:38]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will destroy king and leaders from there.”

[49:38]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:39]  ⁹ tn See Jer 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[49:39]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”