Yeremia 51:11-12
KonteksFill your quivers! 2
The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in 3 the kings of Media. 4
For he intends to destroy Babylonia.
For that is how the Lord will get his revenge –
how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple. 5
51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! 6
Bring more guards! 7
Post them all around the city! 8
Put men in ambush! 9
For the Lord will do what he has planned.
He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. 10
Yeremia 51:43
Konteks51:43 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. 11
Yeremia 51:62-64
Konteks51:62 Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’ 51:63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. 12 51:64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments 13 I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. 14
Yeremia 50:13
Konteks50:13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. 15
It will be totally desolate.
All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn
because of all the disasters that have happened to it. 16
Yeremia 50:39-40
Konteks50:39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there.
Ostriches 17 will dwell in it too. 18
But no people will ever live there again.
No one will dwell there for all time to come. 19
50:40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did
Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.
No one will live there. 20
No human being will settle in it,”
says the Lord. 21
Yeremia 50:45
Konteks50:45 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon,
what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. 22
Their little ones will be dragged off.
I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.
Yesaya 13:19-20
Konteks13:19 Babylon, the most admired 23 of kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, 24
will be destroyed by God
just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. 25
13:20 No one will live there again;
no one will ever reside there again. 26
No bedouin 27 will camp 28 there,
no shepherds will rest their flocks 29 there.
Yesaya 14:23-24
Konteks14:23 “I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals 30
and covered with pools of stagnant water.
I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” 31
says the Lord who commands armies.
14:24 32 The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:
“Be sure of this:
Just as I have intended, so it will be;
just as I have planned, it will happen.
Yesaya 46:10-11
Konteks46:10 who announces the end from the beginning
and reveals beforehand 33 what has not yet occurred,
who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
I will accomplish what I desire,’
46:11 who summons an eagle 34 from the east,
from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.
Yes, I have decreed, 35
yes, I will bring it to pass;
I have formulated a plan,
yes, I will carry it out.
Yesaya 47:1-15
Konteks47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin 36 daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 37 you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!
Remove your veil,
strip off your skirt,
expose your legs,
cross the streams!
47:3 Let your private parts be exposed!
Your genitals will be on display! 38
I will get revenge;
I will not have pity on anyone,” 39
47:4 says our protector –
the Lord who commands armies is his name,
the Holy One of Israel. 40
47:5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, 41
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed, 42 you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
47:6 I was angry at my people;
I defiled my special possession
and handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy; 43
you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. 44
47:7 You said,
‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ 45
You did not think about these things; 46
you did not consider how it would turn out. 47
47:8 So now, listen to this,
O one who lives so lavishly, 48
who lives securely,
who says to herself, 49
‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! 50
I will never have to live as a widow;
I will never lose my children.’ 51
47:9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed. 52
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, 53
despite 54 your many incantations
and your numerous amulets. 55
47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; 56
you thought, 57 ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed 58 wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 59
47:11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away. 60
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it. 61
47:12 Persist 62 in trusting 63 your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited 64 since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful 65 –
maybe you will scare away disaster. 66
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. 67
Let them take their stand –
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions –
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! 68
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 69 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 70
47:15 They will disappoint you, 71
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 72
Each strays off in his own direction, 73
leaving no one to rescue you.”
Wahyu 18:2
Konteks18:2 He 74 shouted with a powerful voice:
“Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!
She 75 has become a lair for demons,
a haunt 76 for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. 77
Wahyu 18:21-24
Konteks18:21 Then 78 one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,
“With this kind of sudden violent force 79
Babylon the great city will be thrown down 80
and it will never be found again!
18:22 And the sound of the harpists, musicians,
flute players, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you 81 again.
No 82 craftsman 83 who practices any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the noise of a mill 84 will never be heard in you again.
18:23 Even the light from a lamp
will never shine in you again!
The voices of the bridegroom and his bride
will never be heard in you again.
For your merchants were the tycoons of the world,
because all the nations 85 were deceived by your magic spells! 86
18:24 The 87 blood of the saints and prophets was found in her, 88
along with the blood 89 of all those who had been killed on the earth.”
[51:11] 1 sn The imperatives here and in v. 12 are directed to the soldiers in the armies of the kings from the north (here identified as the kings of Media [see also 50:3, 9; 51:27-28]). They have often been addressed in this prophecy as though they were a present force (see 50:14-16; 50:21 [and the study note there]; 50:26, 29; 51:3) though the passage as a whole is prophetic of the future. This gives some idea of the ideal stance that the prophets adopted when they spoke of the future as though already past (the use of the Hebrew prophetic perfect which has been referred to often in the translator’s notes).
[51:11] 2 tn The meaning of this word is debated. The most thorough discussion of this word including etymology and usage in the OT and Qumran is in HALOT 1409-10 s.v. שֶׁלֶט, where the rendering “quiver” is accepted for all the uses of this word in the OT. For a more readily accessible discussion for English readers see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:422-23. The meaning “quiver” fits better with the verb “fill” than the meaning “shield” which is adopted in BDB 1020 s.v. שֶׁלֶט. “Quiver” is the meaning adopted also in NRSV, REB, NAB, and NJPS.
[51:11] 3 tn Heb “The
[51:11] 4 sn Media was a country in what is now northwestern Iran. At the time this prophecy was probably written they were the dominating force in the northern region, the most likely enemy to Babylon. By the time Babylon fell in 538
[51:11] 5 tn Heb “For it is the vengeance of the
[51:11] sn Verse 11c-f appears to be a parenthetical or editorial comment by Jeremiah to give some background for the attack which is summoned in vv. 11-12.
[51:12] 6 tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”
[51:12] 7 tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”
[51:12] 8 tn Heb “Station the guards.”
[51:12] 9 tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”
[51:12] sn The commands are here addressed to the kings of the Medes to fully blockade the city by posting watchmen and setting men in ambush to prevent people from escaping from the city (cf. 2 Kgs 25:4).
[51:12] 10 tn Heb “For the
[51:43] 11 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.
[51:63] 12 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.
[51:64] 13 tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”
[51:64] 14 sn The final chapter of the book of Jeremiah does not mention Jeremiah or record any of his prophecies.
[50:13] 15 tn Heb “From [or Because of] the wrath of the
[50:13] 16 sn Compare Jer 49:17 and the study note there and see also the study notes on 18:16 and 19:8.
[50:39] 17 tn The identification of this bird has been called into question by G. R. Driver, “Birds in the Old Testament,” PEQ 87 (1955): 137-38. He refers to this bird as an owl. That identification, however, is not reflected in any of the lexicons including the most recent, which still gives “ostrich” (HALOT 402 s.v. יַעֲנָה) as does W. S. McCullough, “Ostrich,” IDB 3:611. REB, NIV, NCV, and God’s Word all identify this bird as “owl/desert owl.”
[50:39] 18 tn Heb “Therefore desert creatures will live with jackals and ostriches will live in it.”
[50:39] 19 tn Heb “It will never again be inhabited nor dwelt in unto generation and generation.” For the meaning of this last phrase compare the usage in Ps 100:5 and Isaiah 13:20. Since the first half of the verse has spoken of animals living there, it is necessary to add “people” and turn the passive verbs into active ones.
[50:40] 20 tn Heb “‘Like [when] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns,’ oracle of the
[50:40] sn Compare Jer 49:18 where the same prophecy is applied to Edom.
[50:40] 21 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[50:45] 22 tn The words “of Babylonia” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.
[50:45] sn The verbs in vv. 22-25 are all descriptive of the present, but all of this is really to take place in the future. Hebrew poetry has a way of rendering future actions as though they were already accomplished. The poetry of this section makes it difficult, however, to render the verbs as future as the present translation has regularly done.
[13:19] 23 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
[13:19] 24 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”
[13:19] sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century
[13:19] 25 tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.
[13:20] 26 tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.
[13:20] 27 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
[13:20] 28 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
[13:20] 29 tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.
[14:23] 30 tn Heb “I will make her into a possession of wild animals.” It is uncertain what type of animal קִפֹּד (qippod) refers to. Some suggest a rodent (cf. NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”), others an owl (cf, NAB, NIV, TEV).
[14:23] 31 tn Heb “I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
[14:24] 32 sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.
[46:10] 33 tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”
[46:11] 34 tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).
[46:11] 35 tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”
[47:1] 36 tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).
[47:1] 37 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
[47:3] 38 tn Heb “Your shame will be seen.” In this context “shame” is a euphemism referring to the genitals.
[47:3] 39 tn Heb “I will not meet a man.” The verb פָּגַע (pagah) apparently carries the nuance “meet with kindness” here (cf. 64:5, and see BDB 803 s.v. Qal.2).
[47:4] 40 tc The Hebrew text reads, “Our redeemer – the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” The ancient Greek version adds “says” before “our redeemer.” אָמַר (’amar) may have accidentally dropped from the text by virtual haplography. Note that the preceding word אָדָם (’adam) is graphically similar.
[47:4] sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[47:5] 41 tn Heb “darkness,” which may indicate a place of hiding where a fugitive would seek shelter and protection.
[47:5] 42 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
[47:6] 44 tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”
[47:7] 45 tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”
[47:7] 46 tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”
[47:7] 47 tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”
[47:8] 48 tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”
[47:8] 49 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
[47:8] 50 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.
[47:8] 51 tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”
[47:9] 52 tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.
[47:9] 53 tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”
[47:9] 54 tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.
[47:9] 55 sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.
[47:10] 56 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
[47:10] 57 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
[47:10] 58 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[47:10] 59 tn See the note at v. 8.
[47:11] 60 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
[47:11] 61 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
[47:12] 62 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
[47:12] 63 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
[47:12] 64 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
[47:12] 65 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
[47:12] 66 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.
[47:13] 67 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
[47:13] 68 tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”
[47:14] 69 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
[47:14] 70 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
[47:15] 71 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
[47:15] 72 tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.
[47:15] 73 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”
[18:2] 74 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style
[18:2] 75 tn Or “It” (the subject is embedded in the verb in Greek; the verb only indicates that it is third person). Since the city has been personified as the great prostitute, the feminine pronoun was used in the translation.
[18:2] 76 tn Here BDAG 1067 s.v. φυλακή 3 states, “a place where guarding is done, prison…Of the nether world or its place of punishment (πνεῦμα 2 and 4c) 1 Pt 3:19 (BReicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism ’46, 116f). It is in a φ. in the latter sense that Satan will be rendered harmless during the millennium Rv 20:7. The fallen city of Babylon becomes a φυλακή haunt for all kinds of unclean spirits and birds 18:2ab.”
[18:2] 77 tc There are several problems in this verse. It seems that according to the ms evidence the first two phrases (i.e., “and a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean bird” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου, kai fulakh panto" pneumato" akaqartou kai fulakh panto" orneou akaqartou]) are to be regarded as authentic, though there are some ms discrepancies. The similar beginnings (καὶ φυλακὴ παντός) and endings (ἀκαθάρτου) of each phrase would easily account for some
[18:21] 78 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
[18:21] 79 tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.
[18:21] 80 sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.
[18:22] 81 tn The shift to a second person pronoun here corresponds to the Greek text.
[18:22] 82 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[18:22] 83 tn On this term BDAG 1001 s.v. τεχνίτης states, “craftsperson, artisan, designer…Of a silversmith Ac 19:24, 25 v.l., 38….Of a potter 2 Cl 8:2 (metaph., cp. Ath. 15:2). πᾶς τεχνίτης πάσης τέχνης Rv 18:22.”
[18:22] 84 tn This is a different Greek word (μύλος, mulos) from the one for the millstone in v. 21 (μύλινος, mulinos). See L&N 7.68.
[18:23] 85 tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
[18:23] 86 tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”
[18:24] 87 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[18:24] 88 tn The shift in pronouns from second to third person corresponds to the Greek text.
[18:24] 89 tn Grk “and of all.” The phrase “along with the blood” has been repeated from the previous clause for stylistic reasons.
