Jeremiah 51:30

51:30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting.

They will remain in their fortified cities.

They will lose their strength to do battle. ¹ 

They will be as frightened as women. ² 

The houses in her cities will be set on fire.

The gates of her cities will be broken down. ³ 

Isaiah 45:1-2

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ⁴  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ⁵ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ⁶ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

45:2 “I will go before you

and level mountains. ⁷ 

Bronze doors I will shatter

and iron bars ⁸  I will hack through.

[51:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Their strength is dry.” This is a figurative nuance of the word “dry” which BDB 677 s.v. נָשַׁת Qal.1 explain as meaning “fails.” The idea of “strength to do battle” is implicit from the context and is supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[51:30]  ² tn Heb “They have become women.” The metaphor has been turned into a simile and the significance of the comparison drawn out for the sake of clarity. See 50:37 for the same figure.

[51:30]  ³ tn Heb “Her dwelling places have been set on fire. Her bars [i.e., the bars on the gates of her cities] have been broken.” The present translation has substituted the word “gates” for “bars” because the intent of the figure is to show that the bars of the gates have been broken giving access to the city. “Gates” makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figure.

[45:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ⁵ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[45:2]  ⁷ tc The form הֲדוּרִים (hadurim) makes little, if any, sense here. It is probably a corruption of an original הָרָרִים (hararim, “mountains”), the reduplicated form of הָר (har, “mountain”).

[45:2]  ⁸ tn That is, on the gates. Cf. CEV “break the iron bars on bronze gates.”