Jeremiah 51:57

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

along with her governors, leaders, ¹  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ² 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ³ 

Psalms 13:3

13:3 Look at me! ⁴  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ⁵  or else I will die! ⁶ 

Psalms 76:5-6

76:5 The bravehearted ⁷  were plundered; ⁸ 

they “fell asleep.” ⁹ 

All the warriors were helpless. ¹⁰ 

76:6 At the sound of your battle cry, ¹¹  O God of Jacob,

both rider ¹²  and horse “fell asleep.” ¹³ 

[51:57]  ¹ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ² sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ³ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.

[13:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Give light [to] my eyes.” The Hiphil of אוּר (’ur), when used elsewhere with “eyes” as object, refers to the law of God giving moral enlightenment (Ps 19:8), to God the creator giving literal eyesight to all people (Prov 29:13), and to God giving encouragement to his people (Ezra 9:8). Here the psalmist pictures himself as being on the verge of death. His eyes are falling shut and, if God does not intervene soon, he will “fall asleep” for good.

[13:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “or else I will sleep [in?] the death.” Perhaps the statement is elliptical, “I will sleep [the sleep] of death,” or “I will sleep [with the sleepers in] death.”

[76:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ⁸ tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[76:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from your shout.” The noun is derived from the Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 18:15; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[76:6]  ¹² tn Or “chariot,” but even so the term is metonymic for the charioteer.

[76:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “he fell asleep, and [the] chariot and [the] horse.” Once again (see v. 5) “sleep” refers here to the “sleep” of death.