Yesaya 40:1-2

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ¹  God.

40:2 “Speak kindly to ²  Jerusalem, ³  and tell her

that her time of warfare is over, ⁴ 

that her punishment is completed. ⁵ 

For the Lord has made her pay double ⁶  for all her sins.”

Yesaya 44:21-22

44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob,

O Israel, for you are my servant.

I formed you to be my servant;

O Israel, I will not forget you! ⁷ 

44:22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,

the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ⁸ 

Come back to me, for I protect ⁹  you.”

Yesaya 54:7-8

54:7 “For a short time I abandoned ¹⁰  you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

54:8 In a burst ¹¹  of anger I rejected you ¹²  momentarily,

but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”

says your protector, ¹³  the Lord.

Imamat 26:40-45

26:40 However, when ¹⁴  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ¹⁵  by which they also walked ¹⁶  in hostility against me ¹⁷  26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ¹⁸  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ¹⁹  their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, ²⁰  and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them ²¹  in order that it may make up for ²²  its Sabbaths while it is made desolate ²³  without them, ²⁴  and they will make up for their iniquity because ²⁵  they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred ²⁶  my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors ²⁷  whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

Ulangan 4:29-31

4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. ²⁸  4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, ²⁹  if you return to the Lord your God and obey him ³⁰  4:31 (for he ³¹  is a merciful God), he will not let you down ³²  or destroy you, for he cannot ³³  forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

Nehemia 1:8-9

1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. ³⁴  1:9 But if you repent ³⁵  and obey ³⁶  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³⁷  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Mazmur 98:3

98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. ³⁸ 

All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 102:13

102:13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion. ⁴⁰ 

For it is time to have mercy on her,

for the appointed time has come.

Mazmur 136:10-24

136:10 to the one who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

for his loyal love endures,

136:11 and led Israel out from their midst,

for his loyal love endures,

136:12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,

for his loyal love endures,

136:13 to the one who divided ⁴¹  the Red Sea ⁴²  in two, ⁴³ 

for his loyal love endures,

136:14 and led Israel through its midst,

for his loyal love endures,

136:15 and tossed ⁴⁴  Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea,

for his loyal love endures,

136:16 to the one who led his people through the wilderness,

for his loyal love endures,

136:17 to the one who struck down great kings,

for his loyal love endures,

136:18 and killed powerful kings,

for his loyal love endures,

136:19 Sihon, king of the Amorites,

for his loyal love endures,

136:20 Og, king of Bashan,

for his loyal love endures,

136:21 and gave their land as an inheritance,

for his loyal love endures,

136:22 as an inheritance to Israel his servant,

for his loyal love endures,

136:23 to the one who remembered us when we were down, ⁴⁵ 

for his loyal love endures,

136:24 and snatched us away from our enemies,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 143:12

143:12 As a demonstration of your loyal love, ⁴⁶  destroy my enemies!

Annihilate ⁴⁷  all who threaten my life, ⁴⁸ 

for I am your servant.

Yeremia 50:4-6

50:4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, ⁴⁹ 

“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.

They will come back with tears of repentance

as they seek the Lord their God. ⁵⁰ 

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ⁵¹  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ⁵² 

50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds ⁵³  have allow them to go astray.

They have wandered around in the mountains.

They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. ⁵⁴ 

They have forgotten their resting place.

Yeremia 50:17-20

50:17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep

which lions have chased away.

First the king of Assyria devoured them. ⁵⁵ 

Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones. ⁵⁶ 

50:18 So I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, say: ⁵⁷ 

‘I will punish the king of Babylon and his land

just as I punished the king of Assyria.

50:19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture.

They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan.

They will eat until they are full ⁵⁸ 

on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead. ⁵⁹ 

50:20 When that time comes,

no guilt will be found in Israel.

No sin will be found in Judah. ⁶⁰ 

For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. ⁶¹ 

I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ⁶² 

Yeremia 50:33

50:33 The Lord who rules over all ⁶³  says,

“The people of Israel are oppressed.

So too are the people of Judah. ⁶⁴ 

All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.

They refuse to set them free.

Yeremia 51:4-6

51:4 Let them fall ⁶⁵  slain in the land of Babylonia, ⁶⁶ 

mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ⁶⁷ 

51:5 “For Israel and Judah will not be forsaken ⁶⁸ 

by their God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁶⁹ 

For the land of Babylonia is ⁷⁰  full of guilt

against the Holy One of Israel. ⁷¹ 

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ⁷² 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ⁷³  back for what she has done. ⁷⁴ 

Yeremia 51:34-37

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.” ⁷⁵ 

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.” ⁷⁶ 

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. ⁷⁷ 

I will dry up their sea.

I will make their springs run dry. ⁷⁸ 

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ⁷⁹ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ⁸⁰ 

Lukas 1:54

1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ⁸¹  his mercy, ⁸² 

Lukas 1:72-74

1:72 He has done this ⁸³  to show mercy ⁸⁴  to our ancestors, ⁸⁵ 

and to remember his holy covenant ⁸⁶  –

1:73 the oath ⁸⁷  that he swore to our ancestor ⁸⁸  Abraham.

This oath grants ⁸⁹ 

1:74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our ⁹⁰  enemies,

may serve him without fear, ⁹¹ 

[40:1]  ¹ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[40:2]  ² tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.

[40:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).

[44:21]  ⁷ tc The verb in the Hebrew text is a Niphal imperfect with a pronominal suffix. Although the Niphal ordinarily has the passive sense, it can have a reflexive nuance as well (see above translation). Some have suggested an emendation to a Qal form: “Do not forget me” (all the ancient versions, NEB, REB; see GKC 369 §117.x). “Do not forget me” would make a good parallel with “remember these things” in the first line. Since the MT is the harder reading and fits with Israel’s complaint that God had forgotten her (Isa 40:27), the MT reading should be retained (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, ESV). The passive has been rendered as an active in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style (so also NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[44:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “I blot out like a cloud your rebellious deeds, and like a cloud your sins.” “Rebellious deeds” and “sins” stand by metonymy for the guilt they produce. Both עָב (’av) and עָנָן (’anan) refer to the clouds in the sky. It is tempting for stylistic purposes to translate the second with “fog” or “mist” (cf. NAB, NRSV “cloud…mist”; NIV “cloud…morning mist”; NLT “morning mists…clouds”), but this distinction between the synonyms is unwarranted here. The point of the simile seems to be this: The Lord forgives their sins, causing them to vanish just as clouds disappear from the sky (see Job 7:9; 30:15).

[44:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “forsook” (NASB).

[54:8]  ¹¹ tn According to BDB 1009 s.v. שֶׁטֶף the noun שֶׁצֶף here is an alternate form of שֶׁטֶף (shetef, “flood”). Some relate the word to an alleged Akkadian cognate meaning “strength.”

[54:8]  ¹² tn Heb “I hid my face from you.”

[54:8]  ¹³ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[26:40]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with me.”

[26:41]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[26:42]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:43]  ²¹ tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).

[26:43]  ²² tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.

[26:43]  ²³ tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).

[26:43]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from them.”

[26:43]  ²⁵ tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).

[26:43]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”

[26:45]  ²⁷ tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”

[26:45]  sn For similar expressions referring back to the ancestors who refused to follow the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant see, for example, Deut 19:14, Jer 11:10, and Ps 79:8 (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 192, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 471).

[4:29]  ²⁸ tn Or “mind and being.” See Deut 6:5.

[4:30]  ²⁹ sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.

[4:30]  ³⁰ tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.

[4:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:31]  ³² tn Heb “he will not drop you,” i.e., “will not abandon you” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:31]  ³³ tn Or “will not.” The translation understands the imperfect verbal form to have an added nuance of capability here.

[1:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “peoples.”

[1:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “turn to me.”

[1:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[1:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

[98:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

[98:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

[102:13]  ⁴⁰ tn The imperfect verbal forms are understood as expressing the psalmist’s confidence in God’s intervention. Another option is to take them as expressing the psalmist’s request or wish, “You, rise up and have compassion!”

[136:13]  ⁴¹ tn Or “cut.”

[136:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in v. 15). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[136:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “into pieces.”

[136:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “shook off.”

[136:23]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “who, in our low condition, remembered us.”

[143:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[143:12]  ⁴⁷ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the mood of the preceding imperfect.

[143:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “all the enemies of my life.”

[50:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[50:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. They shall go, weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.” The concept of “seeking” the Lord often has to do with seeking the Lord in worship (by sacrifice [Hos 5:6; 2 Chr 11:16]; prayer [Zech 8:21, 22; 2 Sam 12:16; Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:4]). In Hos 7:10 it is in parallel with returning to the Lord. In Ps 69:6 it is in parallel with hoping in or trusting in the Lord. Perhaps the most helpful parallels here, however, are Hos 3:5 (in comparison with Jer 30:9) and 2 Chr 15:15 where it is in the context of a covenant commitment to be loyal to the Lord which is similar to the context here (see the next verse). The translation is admittedly paraphrastic but “seeking the Lord” does not mean here looking for God as though he were merely a person to be found.

[50:5]  ⁵¹ tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ⁵² sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.

[50:6]  ⁵³ sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).

[50:6]  ⁵⁴ sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).

[50:17]  ⁵⁵ sn The king of Assyria devoured them. This refers to the devastation wrought on northern Israel by the kings of Assyria beginning in 738 b.c. when Tiglath Pileser took Galilee and the Transjordanian territories and ending with the destruction and exile of the people of Samaria by Sargon in 722 b.c.

[50:17]  ⁵⁶ tn The verb used here only occurs this one time in the Hebrew Bible. It is a denominative from the Hebrew word for “bones” (עֶצֶם, ’etsem). BDB 1126 s.v. עֶָצַם, denom Pi, define it as “break his bones.” HALOT 822 s.v. II עָצַם Pi defines it as “gnaw on his bones.”

[50:17]  sn If the prophecies which are referred to in Jer 51:59-64 refer to all that is contained in Jer 50–51 (as some believe), this would have referred to the disasters of 605 b.c. and 598 b.c. and all the harassment that Israel experienced from Babylon up until the fourth year of Zedekiah (594 b.c.). If on the other hand, the prophecy related there refers to something less than this final form, the destruction of 587/6 b.c. could be referred to as well.

[50:18]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “Therefore thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” The first person is again adopted because the Lord is speaking. For this title, “Yahweh of armies,” compare 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.

[50:19]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “their soul [or hunger/appetite] will be satisfied.”

[50:19]  ⁵⁹ sn The metaphor of Israel as a flock of sheep (v. 17) is continued here. The places named were all in Northern Israel and in the Transjordan, lands that were lost to the Assyrians in the period 738-722 b.c. All of these places were known for their fertility, for their woods and their pastures. The hills (hill country) of Ephraim formed the center of Northern Israel. Mount Carmel lies on the seacoast of the Mediterranean north and west of the hill country of Ephraim. Gilead formed the central part of Transjordan and was used to refer at times to the territory between the Yarmuk and Jabbok Rivers, at times to the territory between the Yarmuk and the Arnon Rivers, and at times for all of Israel in the Transjordan. Bashan refers to the territory north of Gilead.

[50:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “In those days and at that time, oracle of the Lord, the iniquity [or guilt] of Israel will be sought but there will be none and the sins of Judah but they will not be found.” The passive construction “will be sought” raises the question of who is doing the seeking which is not really the main point. The translation has avoided this question by simply referring to the result which is the main point.

[50:20]  ⁶¹ sn Compare Jer 31:34 and 33:8.

[50:20]  ⁶² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” In this case it is necessary to place this in the first person because this is already in a quote whose speaker is identified as the Lord (v. 18).

[50:33]  ⁶³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:33]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “Oppressed are the people of Israel and the people of Judah together,” i.e., both the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. However, neither of these renderings is very poetic. The translation seeks to achieve the same meaning with better poetic expression.

[51:4]  ⁶⁵ tn The majority of English versions and the commentaries understand the vav (ו) consecutive + perfect as a future here “They will fall.” However, it makes better sense in the light of the commands in the previous verse to understand this as an indirect third person command (= a jussive; see GKC 333 §112.q, r) as REB and NJPS do.

[51:4]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[51:4]  ⁶⁷ tn The words “cities” is not in the text. The text merely says “in her streets” but the antecedent is “land” and must then refer to the streets of the cities in the land.

[51:5]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “widowed” (cf. BDB 48 s.v. אַלְמָן, an adjective occurring only here but related to the common word for “widow”). It is commonly translated as has been done here.

[51:5]  sn The verses from v. 5 to v. 19 all speak of the Lord in the third person. The prophet who is the spokesman for the Lord (50:1) thus is speaking. However, the message is still from God because this was all what he spoke “through the prophet Jeremiah.”

[51:5]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this rendering see the study note on 2:19.

[51:5]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “all, though their land was…” The majority of the modern English versions understand the land here to refer to the land of Israel and Judah (the text reads “their land” and Israel and Judah are the nearest antecedents). In this case the particle כִּי (ki) is concessive (cf. BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c[b]). Many of the modern commentaries understand the referent to be the land of the Chaldeans/Babylonians. However, most of them feel that the line is connected as a causal statement to 51:2-4 and see the line as either textually or logically out of place. However, it need not be viewed as logically out of place. It is parallel to the preceding and gives a second reason why they are to be destroyed. It also forms an excellent transition to the next lines where the exiles and other foreigners are urged to flee and not get caught up in the destruction which is coming “because of her sin.” It might be helpful to note that both the adjective “widowed” and the suffix on “their God” are masculine singular, looking at Israel and Judah as one entity. The “their” then goes back not to Israel and Judah of the preceding lines but to the “them” in v. 4. This makes for a better connection with the following and understands the particle כִּי in its dominant usage not an extremely rare one (see the comment in BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c[b]). This interpretation is also reflected in RSV.

[51:5]  ⁷¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 50:29.

[51:6]  ⁷² tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

[51:6]  ⁷³ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[51:34]  ⁷⁵ 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.

[51:34]  sn The speaker in this verse and the next is the personified city of Jerusalem. She laments her fate at the hands of the king of Babylon and calls down a curse on Babylon and the people who live in Babylonia. Here Nebuchadnezzar is depicted as a monster of the deep who has devoured Jerusalem, swallowed her down, and filled its belly with her riches, leaving her an empty dish, which has been rinsed clean.

[51:35]  ⁷⁶ 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]  ⁷⁷ 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]  ⁷⁸ 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.”

[51:36]  sn The reference to their sea is not clear. Most interpreters understand it to be a figurative reference to the rivers and canals surrounding Babylon. But some feel it refers to the reservoir that the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, Queen Nictoris, had made.

[51:37]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

[1:54]  ⁸¹ tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.

[1:54]  ⁸² tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”

[1:72]  ⁸³ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ⁸⁴ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ⁸⁶ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[1:73]  ⁸⁷ tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.

[1:73]  ⁸⁸ tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”

[1:73]  ⁸⁹ tn Again for reasons of English style, the infinitival clause “to grant us” has been translated “This oath grants” and made the beginning of a new sentence in the translation.

[1:74]  ⁹⁰ tc Many important early mss (א B L W [0130] Ë^1,13 565 892 pc) lack “our,” while most (A C D [K] Θ Ψ 0177 33 Ï pc) supply it. Although the addition is most likely not authentic, “our” has been included in the translation due to English stylistic requirements.

[1:74]  ⁹¹ tn This phrase in Greek is actually thrown forward to the front of the verse to give it emphasis.