Jeremiah 51:25

Context

51:25 The Lord says,¹ “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon!²

You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.

I will unleash my power against you;³

I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain.⁴

Mark 11:23

Context
11:23 I tell you the truth,⁵ if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

[51:25] ¹tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:25] ²tn The word “Babylon” is not in the text but is universally understood as the referent. It is supplied in the translation here to clarify the referent for the sake of the average reader.

[51:25] ³tn Heb “I will reach out my hand against you.” See the translator’s note on 6:12 for explanation.

[51:25] ⁴tn Heb “I am against you, oh destroying mountain that destroys all the earth. I will reach out my hand against you and roll you down from the cliffs and make you a mountain of burning.” The interpretation adopted here follows the lines suggested by S. R. Driver, Jeremiah, 318, n. c and reflected also in BDB 977 s.v. שְׂרֵפָה. Babylon is addressed as a destructive mountain because it is being compared to a volcano. The Lord, however, will make it a “burned-out mountain,” i.e., an extinct volcano which is barren and desolate. This interpretation seems to this translator to fit the details of the text more consistently than alternative ones which separate the concept of “destroying/destructive” from “mountain” and explain the figure of the mountain to refer to the dominating political position of Babylon and the reference to a “mountain of burning” to be a “burned [or burned over] mountain.” The use of similes in place of metaphors makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figures and also more easily incorporates the dissonant figure of “rolling you down from the cliffs” which involves the figure of personification.

[11:23] ⁵tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”