Jeremiah 51:13

51:13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon, ¹ 

the time of your end has come.

You who are rich in plundered treasure,

it is time for your lives to be cut off. ² 

Revelation 17:1

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17:1 Then ³  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. ⁴  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment ⁵  of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

Revelation 17:15

17:15 Then ⁶  the angel ⁷  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ⁸  nations, and languages.

[51:13]  ¹ sn Babylon was situated on the Euphrates River and was surrounded by canals (also called “rivers”).

[51:13]  ² tn Heb “You who live upon [or beside] many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the cubit of your cutting off.” The sentence has been restructured and paraphrased to provide clarity for the average reader. The meaning of the last phrase is debated. For a discussion of the two options see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:423. Most modern commentaries and English versions see an allusion to the figure in Isa 38:12 where the reference is to the end of life compared to a tapestry which is suddenly cut off from the loom. Hence, NRSV renders the last line as “the thread of your life is cut” and TEV renders “its thread of life is cut.” That idea is accepted also in HALOT 141 s.v. בצע Qal.1.

[17:1]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

[17:1]  ⁵ tn Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punishment.” See BDAG 567 s.v. 4.b, “mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the condemnatory verdict and sometimes the subsequent punishment itself 2 Pt 2:3; Jd 4…τὸ κ. τῆς πόρνης the condemnation and punishment of the prostitute Rv 17:1.”

[17:15]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.