Jeremiah 50:35

50:35 “Destructive forces will come against the Babylonians,” ¹  says the Lord. ² 

“They will come against the people who inhabit Babylonia,

against her leaders and her men of wisdom.

Jeremiah 51:61

51:61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure ³  you read aloud all these prophecies. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 25:18

25:18 I made Jerusalem ⁵  and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. ⁶  I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object ⁷  of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. ⁸  Such is already becoming the case! ⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:57

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

along with her governors, leaders, ¹⁰  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ¹¹ 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ¹² 

Jeremiah 52:24

52:24 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 51:59

51:59 This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign. ¹⁴  (Seraiah was a quartermaster.) ¹⁵ 

[50:35]  ¹ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” For explanation of the rendering see the study note on 21:4. There is no verb in this clause. Therefore it is difficult to determine whether this should be understood as a command or as a prediction. The presence of vav (ו) consecutive perfects after a similar construction in vv. 36b, d, 37c, 38a and the imperfects after “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) all suggest the predictive or future nuance. However, the vav consecutive perfect could be used to carry on the nuance of command (cf. GKC 333 §112.q) but not in the sense of purpose as NRSV, NJPS render them.

[50:35]  ² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:61]  ³ tn Heb “see [that].”

[51:61]  ⁴ tn Heb “words” (or “things”).

[25:18]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:18]  ⁶ tn The words “I made” and “drink it” are not in the text. The text from v. 18 to v. 26 contains a list of the nations that Jeremiah “made drink it.” The words are supplied in the translation here and at the beginning of v. 19 for the sake of clarity. See also the note on v. 26.

[25:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “in order to make them a ruin, an object of…” The sentence is broken up and the antecedents are made specific for the sake of clarity and English style.

[25:18]  ⁸ tn See the study note on 24:9 for explanation.

[25:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “as it is today.” This phrase would obviously be more appropriate after all these things had happened as is the case in 44:6, 23 where the verbs referring to these conditions are past. Some see this phrase as a marginal gloss added after the tragedies of 597 b.c. or 586 b.c. However, it may refer here to the beginning stages where Judah has already suffered the loss of Josiah, of its freedom, of some of its temple treasures, and of some of its leaders (Dan 1:1-3. The different date for Jehoiakim there is due to the different method of counting the king’s first year; the third year there is the same as the fourth year in 25:1).

[51:57]  ⁷ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ⁸ sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ⁹ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.

[52:24]  ⁹ sn See the note at Jer 35:4.

[51:59]  ¹¹ sn This would be 582 b.c.

[51:59]  ¹² tn Heb “an officer of rest.”