Discovery BoxJeremiah 51:33-58
Context51:33 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says,
‘Fair Babylon 1 will be like a threshing floor
which has been trampled flat for harvest.
The time for her to be cut down and harvested
will come very soon.’ 2
51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
devoured me and drove my people out.
Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.
He filled his belly with my riches.
He made me an empty dish.
He completely cleaned me out.” 3
51:35 The person who lives in Zion says,
“May Babylon pay for the violence done to me and to my relatives.”
Jerusalem says,
“May those living in Babylonia pay for the bloodshed of my people.” 4
51:36 Therefore the Lord says,
“I will stand up for your cause.
I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. 5
I will dry up their sea.
I will make their springs run dry. 6
51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there. 7
It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,
a place where no one lives. 8
51:38 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey.
They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. 9
51:39 When their appetites are all stirred up, 10
I will set out a banquet for them.
I will make them drunk
so that they will pass out, 11
they will fall asleep forever,
they will never wake up,” 12
says the Lord. 13
51:40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered
like lambs, rams, and male goats.” 14
51:41 “See how Babylon 15 has been captured!
See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken!
See what an object of horror
Babylon has become among the nations! 16
51:42 The sea has swept over Babylon.
She has been covered by a multitude 17 of its waves. 18
51:43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.
She has become a dry and barren desert.
No one lives in those towns any more.
No one even passes through them. 19
51:44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.
The nations will not come streaming to him any longer.
Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.” 20
51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!
Flee to save your lives
from the fierce anger of the Lord! 21
51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid
because of the reports that are heard in the land.
For a report will come in one year.
Another report will follow it in the next.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler fighting against ruler.”
51:47 “So the time will certainly come 22
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Her whole land will be put to shame.
All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. 23
51:48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will sing for joy over Babylon.
For destroyers from the north will attack it,”
says the Lord. 24
because of the Israelites she has killed, 26
just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell
because of Babylon. 27
51:50 You who have escaped the sword, 28
go, do not delay. 29
Remember the Lord in a faraway land.
Think about Jerusalem. 30
51:51 ‘We 31 are ashamed because we have been insulted. 32
Our faces show our disgrace. 33
For foreigners have invaded
the holy rooms 34 in the Lord’s temple.’
51:52 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” 35 says the Lord, 36
“when I will punish her idols.
Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
51:53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky 37
and fortifies her elevated stronghold, 38
I will send destroyers against her,” 39
says the Lord. 40
51:54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,
the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.
51:55 For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon,
and put an end to her loud noise.
Their waves 41 will roar like turbulent 42 waters.
They will make a deafening noise. 43
51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. 44
Her warriors will be captured;
their bows will be broken. 45
For the Lord is a God who punishes; 46
he pays back in full. 47
51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, leaders, 48 and warriors.
They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” 49
says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. 50
51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all 51 says,
“Babylon’s thick wall 52 will be completely demolished. 53
Her high gates will be set on fire.
The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. 54
The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” 55
[51:33] 1 sn Heb “Daughter Babylon.” See the study note at 50:42 for explanation.
[51:33] 2 tn Heb “Daughter Babylon will be [or is; there is no verb and the tense has to be supplied from the context] like a threshing floor at the time one tramples it. Yet a little while and the time of the harvest will come for her.” It is generally agreed that there are two figures here: one of leveling the threshing floor and stamping it into a smooth, hard surface and the other of the harvest where the grain is cut, taken to the threshing floor, and threshed by trampling the sheaves of grain to loosen the grain from the straw, and finally winnowed by throwing the mixture into the air (cf., e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 760). The translation has sought to convey those ideas as clearly as possible without digressing too far from the literal.
[51:34] 3 tn This verse is extremely difficult to translate because of the shifting imagery, the confusion over the meaning of one of the verbs, and the apparent inconsistency of the pronominal suffixes here with those in the following verse which everyone agrees is connected with it. The pronominal suffixes are first common plural but the versions all read them as first common singular which the Masoretes also do in the Qere. That reading has been followed here for consistency with the next verse which identifies the speaker as the person living in Zion and the personified city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew text reads: “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me [cf. 50:7, 17] and threw me into confusion. He set me down an empty dish. He swallowed me like a monster from the deep [cf. BDB 1072 s.v. תַּנִּין 3 and compare usage in Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; 32:2]. He filled his belly with my dainties. He rinsed me out [cf. BDB s.v. דּוּח Hiph.2 and compare the usage in Isa 4:4].” The verb “throw into confusion” has proved troublesome because its normal meaning does not seem appropriate. Hence various proposals have been made to understand it in a different sense. The present translation has followed W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:428) in understanding the verb to mean “disperse” or “route” (see NAB). The last line has seemed out of place and has often been emended to read “he has spewed me out” (so NIV, NRSV, a reading that presupposes הִדִּיחָנִי [hiddikhani] for הֱדִיחָנִי [hedikhani]). The reading of the MT is not inappropriate if it is combined with the imagery of an empty jar and hence is retained here (see F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 425, n. 59; H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 344; NJPS). The lines have been combined to keep the imagery together.
[51:35] 4 tn Heb “‘The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,’ says the one living in Zion. ‘My blood be upon those living in Chaldea,’ says Jerusalem.” For the usage of the genitive here in the phrase “violence done to me and my relatives” see GKC 414 §128.a (a construct governing two objects) and IBHS 303 §16.4d (an objective genitive). For the nuance of “pay” in the sense of retribution see BDB 756 s.v. עַל 7.a(b) and compare the usage in Judg 9:24. For the use of שְׁאֵר (shÿ’er) in the sense of “relatives” see BDB 985 s.v. שְׁאֵר 2 and compare NJPS. For the use of “blood” in this idiom see BDB 197 s.v. דָּם 2.k and compare the usage in 2 Sam 4:11; Ezek 3:18, 20. The lines have been reversed for better English style.
[51:36] 5 tn Heb “I will avenge your vengeance [= I will take vengeance for you; the phrase involves a verb and a cognate accusative].” The meaning of the phrase has been spelled out in more readily understandable terms.
[51:36] 6 tn Heb “I will dry up her [Babylon’s] sea and make her fountain dry.” “Their” has been substituted for “her” because “Babylonians” has been inserted in the previous clause and is easier to understand than the personification of Babylon = “her.”
[51:37] 7 tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.
[51:37] 8 tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”
[51:38] 9 tn Heb “They [the Babylonians] all roar like lions. They growl like the cubs of lions.” For the usage of יַחְדָו (yakhdav) meaning “all” see Isa 10:8; 18:6; 41:20. The translation strives to convey in clear terms what is the generally accepted meaning of the simile (cf., e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 358, and J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 762).
[51:39] 10 tn Heb “When they are hot.”
[51:39] 11 tc The translation follows the suggestion of KBL 707 s.v. עָלַז and a number of modern commentaries (e.g., Bright, J. A. Thompson, and W. L. Holladay) in reading יְעֻלְּפוּ (ye’ullÿfu) for יַעֲלֹזוּ (ya’alozu) in the sense of “swoon away” or “grow faint” (see KBL 710 s.v. עָלַף Pual). That appears to be the verb that the LXX (the Greek version) was reading when they translated καρωθῶσιν (karwqwsin, “they will be stupefied”). For parallel usage KBL cites Isa 51:20. This fits the context much better than “they will exult” in the Hebrew text.
[51:39] 12 sn The central figure here is the figure of the cup of the
[51:39] 13 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[51:40] 14 tn Heb “I will bring them down like lambs to be slaughtered, like rams and he goats.”
[51:41] 15 sn Heb “Sheshach.” For an explanation of the usage of this name for Babylon see the study note on Jer 25:26 and that on 51:1 for a similar phenomenon. Babylon is here called “the pride of the whole earth” because it was renowned for its size, its fortifications, and its beautiful buildings.
[51:41] 16 tn Heb “How Sheshach has been captured, the pride of the whole earth has been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!” For the usage of “How” here see the translator’s note on 50:23.
[51:42] 17 tn For the meaning “multitude” here rather than “tumult” see BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.c, where reference is made that this refers to a great throng of people under the figure of an overwhelming mass of waves. The word is used of a multitude of soldiers, or a vast army in 1 Sam 14:16; 1 Kgs 20:13, 18 (cf. BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.a for further references).
[51:42] 18 tn Heb “The sea has risen up over Babylon. She has been covered by the multitude of its waves.”
[51:43] 19 tn Heb “Its towns have become a desolation, [it has become] a dry land and a desert, a land which no man passes through them [referring to “her towns”] and no son of man [= human being] passes through them.” Here the present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and a number of the modern commentaries in deleting the second occurrence of the word “land,” in which case the words that follow are not a relative clause but independent statements. A number of modern English versions appear to ignore the third feminine plural suffixes which refer back to the cities and refer the statements that follow to the land.
[51:44] 20 tn Heb “And I will punish Bel in Babylon…And the nations will not come streaming to him anymore. Yea, the walls of Babylon have fallen.” The verbs in the first two lines are vav consecutive perfects and the verb in the third line is an imperfect all looking at the future. That indicates that the perfect that follows and the perfects that precede are all prophetic perfects. The translation adopted seemed to be the best way to make the transition from the pasts which were adopted in conjunction with the taunting use of אֵיךְ (’ekh) in v. 41 to the futures in v. 44. For the usage of גַּם (gam) to indicate a climax, “yea” or “indeed” see BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 3. It seemed to be impossible to render the meaning of v. 44 in any comprehensible way, even in a paraphrase.
[51:45] 21 tn Heb “Go out from her [Babylon’s] midst, my people. Save each man his life from the fierce anger of the
[51:47] 22 tn Heb “That being so, look, days are approaching.” לָכֵן (lakhen) often introduces the effect of an action. That may be the case here, the turmoil outlined in v. 46 serving as the catalyst for the culminating divine judgment described in v. 47. Another possibility is that לָכֵן here has an asseverative force (“certainly”), as in Isa 26:14 and perhaps Jer 5:2 (see the note there). In this case the word almost has the force of “for, since,” because it presents a cause for an accompanying effect. See Judg 8:7 and the discussion of Isa 26:14 in BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.
[51:47] 23 tn Or “all her slain will fall in her midst.” In other words, her people will be overtaken by judgment and be unable to escape. The dead will lie in heaps in the very heart of the city and land.
[51:48] 24 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[51:49] 25 tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate what is about to take place. See IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.
[51:49] 26 tn Heb “the slain of Israel.” The words “because of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The preceding context makes it clear that Babylon would be judged for its atrocities against Israel (see especially 50:33-34; 51:10, 24, 35).
[51:49] 27 tn The juxtaposition of גַם…גַם (gam...gam), often “both…and,” here indicates correspondence. See BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 4. Appropriately Babylon will fall slain just as her victims, including God’s covenant people, did.
[51:50] 28 sn God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45).
[51:50] 29 tn Heb “don’t stand.”
[51:50] 30 tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.
[51:51] 31 sn The exiles lament the way they have been humiliated.
[51:51] 32 tn Heb “we have heard an insult.”
[51:51] 33 tn Heb “disgrace covers our face.”
[51:51] 34 tn Or “holy places, sanctuaries.”
[51:52] 35 tn Heb “that being so, look, days are approaching.” Here לָכֵן (lakhen) introduces the Lord’s response to the people’s lament (v. 51). It has the force of “yes, but” or “that may be true.” See Judg 11:8 and BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.
[51:52] 36 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[51:53] 37 tn Or “ascends [into] heaven.” Note the use of the phrase in Deut 30:12; 2 Kgs 2:11; and Amos 9:2.
[51:53] 38 tn Heb “and even if she fortifies her strong elevated place.”
[51:53] 39 tn Heb “from me destroyers will go against her.”
[51:53] 40 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[51:55] 41 tn The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not entirely clear. It probably refers back to the “destroyers” mentioned in v. 53 as the agents of God’s judgment on Babylon.
[51:55] 42 tn Or “mighty waters.”
[51:55] 43 tn Heb “and the noise of their sound will be given,”
[51:56] 44 tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”
[51:56] 45 tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.
[51:56] 46 tn Or “God of retribution.”
[51:56] 47 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the
[51:57] 48 sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.
[51:57] 49 sn See the note at Jer 51:39.
[51:57] 50 tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.
[51:58] 51 sn See the note at Jer 2:19.
[51:58] 52 tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew
[51:58] 53 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”
[51:58] 54 tn Heb “for what is empty.”
[51:58] 55 tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”
