Jeremiah 50:12

50:12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame.

The land where you were born ¹  will be disgraced.

Indeed, ²  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.

It will become a dry and barren desert.

Jeremiah 29:11

29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ³  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ⁴  a future filled with hope. ⁵ 

[50:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Your mother will be utterly shamed, the one who gave you birth…” The word “mother” and the parallel term “the one who gave you birth” are used metaphorically for the land of Babylonia. For the figure compare the usage in Isa 50:1 (Judah) and Hos 2:2, 5 (2:4, 7 HT) and see BDB 52 s.v. אֵם 2 and 408 s.v. יָלַד Qal.2.c.

[50:12]  ² tn Heb “Behold.” For the use of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.

[29:11]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ⁵ tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.