Yeremia 10:11
Konteks10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:
‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will disappear 1 from the earth and from under the heavens.’ 2
Yeremia 50:2
Konteks50:2 “Announce 3 the news among the nations! Proclaim it!
Signal for people to pay attention! 4
Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:
‘Babylon will be captured.
Bel 5 will be put to shame.
Marduk will be dismayed.
Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.
[10:11] 1 tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.
[10:11] 2 tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the
[10:11] sn This passage is carefully structured and placed to contrast the
[50:2] 3 tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.
[50:2] 4 tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”
[50:2] 5 sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.
[50:2] 6 tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).
[50:2] 7 tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.
[50:2] sn This refers to the fact that the idols that the Babylonians worshiped will not be able to protect them, but will instead be carried off into exile with the Babylonians themselves (cf. Isa 46:1-2).