Yeremia 25:35

25:35 The leaders will not be able to run away and hide. ¹ 

The shepherds of the flocks will not be able to escape.

Yeremia 12:17

12:17 But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” ²  says the Lord.

Yeremia 48:8

48:8 The destroyer will come against every town.

Not one town will escape.

The towns in the valley will be destroyed.

The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. ³ 

I, the Lord, have spoken! ⁴ 

Yeremia 51:55

51:55 For the Lord is ready to destroy Babylon,

and put an end to her loud noise.

Their waves ⁵  will roar like turbulent ⁶  waters.

They will make a deafening noise. ⁷ 

[25:35]  ¹ tn Heb “Flight [or “place of escape”] will perish from the shepherds.”

[25:35]  sn Judging from Gen 14:10 and Judg 8:12 (among many others), it was not uncommon for the leaders to try to save their own necks at the expense of their soldiers.

[12:17]  ² tn Heb “But if they will not listen, I will uproot that nation, uprooting and destroying.” IBHS 590-91 §35.3.2d is likely right in seeing the double infinitive construction here as an intensifying infinitive followed by an adverbial infinitive qualifying the goal of the main verb, “uproot it in such a way as to destroy it.” However, to translate that way “literally” would not be very idiomatic in contemporary English. The translation strives for the equivalent. Likewise, to translate using the conditional structure of the original seems to put the emphasis of the passage in its context on the wrong point.

[48:8]  ³ tn Heb “The valley will be destroyed and the tableland be laid waste.” However, in the context this surely refers to the towns and not to the valley and the tableland itself.

[48:8]  sn Most commentaries see a reference to the towns in the Jordan valley referred to in Josh 13:27 and the towns mentioned in Josh 13:15-17 which were on the high tableland or high plateau or plain north of the Arnon. The mention of the towns in the first half of the verse is broader than that because it would include all the towns in the southern half of Moab between the Arnon and Zered as well as those mentioned in the second half in conjunction with the valley and the high plateau north of the Arnon.

[48:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “which/for/as the Lord has spoken.” The first person form has again been adopted because the Lord is the speaker throughout (cf. v. 1).

[51:55]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “mighty waters.”

[51:55]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the noise of their sound will be given,”