Yeremia 51:24

51:24 “But I will repay Babylon

and all who live in Babylonia

for all the wicked things they did in Zion

right before the eyes of you Judeans,” ¹ 

says the Lord. ² 

Habakuk 2:7-8

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ³ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ⁴ 

and they will rob you. ⁵ 

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ⁶ 

all who are left among the nations ⁷  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ⁸  and those who live in them.

[51:24]  ¹ tn Or “Media, you are my war club…I will use you to smash…leaders. So before your very eyes I will repay…for all the wicked things they did in Zion.” For explanation see the translator’s note on v. 20. The position of the phrase “before your eyes” at the end of the verse after “which they did in Zion” and the change in person from second masculine singular in vv. 20b-23 (“I used you to smite”) to second masculine plural in “before your eyes” argue that a change in referent/addressee occurs in this verse. To maintain that the referent in vv. 20-23 is Media/Cyrus requires that this position and change in person be ignored; “before your eyes” then is attached to “I will repay.” The present translation follows J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 757) and F. B. Huey (Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 423) in seeing the referent as the Judeans who had witnessed the destruction of Zion/Jerusalem. The word “Judean” has been supplied for the sake of identifying the referent for the modern reader.

[51:24]  ² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[2:7]  ³ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:7]  sn Your creditors will suddenly attack. The Babylonians are addressed directly here. They have robbed and terrorized others, but now the situation will be reversed as their creditors suddenly attack them.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of humankind and violence against land, city.” The singular forms אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) and קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) are collective, referring to all the lands and cities terrorized by the Babylonians.