Yeremia 51:3-4

51:3 Do not give her archers time to string their bows

or to put on their coats of armor. ¹ 

Do not spare any of her young men.

Completely destroy ²  her whole army.

51:4 Let them fall ³  slain in the land of Babylonia, ⁴ 

mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ⁵ 

Yeremia 51:14

51:14 The Lord who rules over all ⁶  has solemnly sworn, ⁷ 

‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers.

They will swarm over it like locusts. ⁸ 

They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

Yeremia 51:30

51:30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting.

They will remain in their fortified cities.

They will lose their strength to do battle. ⁹ 

They will be as frightened as women. ¹⁰ 

The houses in her cities will be set on fire.

The gates of her cities will be broken down. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 51:53

51:53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ¹² 

and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ¹³ 

I will send destroyers against her,” ¹⁴ 

says the Lord. ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 51:56

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ¹⁶ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ¹⁷ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ¹⁸ 

he pays back in full. ¹⁹ 

[51:3]  ¹ tc The text and consequent meaning of these first two lines are uncertain. Literally the Masoretic reads “against let him string let him string the one who strings his bow and against let him raise himself up in his coat of armor.” This makes absolutely no sense and the ancient versions and Hebrew mss did not agree in reading this same text. Many Hebrew mss and all the versions as well as the Masoretes themselves (the text is left unpointed with a marginal note not to read it) delete the second “let him string.” The LXX (or Greek version) left out the words “against” at the beginning of the first two lines. It reads “Let the archer bend his bow and let the one who has armor put it on.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX and some Targum mss supplied the missing object “it” and thus read “Let the archer ready his bow against it and let him array himself against it in his coat of mail.” This makes good sense but does not answer the question of why the Hebrew text left off the suffix on the preposition twice in a row. Many Hebrew mss and the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate (the Latin version) change the pointing of “against” (אֶל [’el]) to “not” (אַל [’al]) and thus read “Let the archer not string the bow and let him not array himself in his armor.” However, many commentators feel that this does not fit the context because it would apparently be addressed to the Babylonians, not the enemy, which would create a sudden shift in addressee with the second half of the verse. However, if it is understood in the sense taken here it refers to the enemy not allowing the Babylonian archers to get ready for the battle, i.e., a surprise attack. This sense is suggested as an alternative in J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 346, n. u-u, and J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 747, n. 5, and is the interpretation adopted in TEV and probably also in NIrV.

[51:3]  ² sn For the concept underlying this word see the study note on “utterly destroy” in Jer 25:9 and compare the usage in 50:21, 26.

[51:4]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[51:4]  ⁵ 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.

[51:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this rendering see the study note on 2:19.

[51:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “has sworn by himself.” See the study note on 22:5 for background.

[51:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will fill you with men like locusts.” The “you” refers to Babylon (Babylon is both the city and the land it ruled, Babylonia) which has been alluded to in the preceding verses under descriptive titles. The words “your land” have been used because of the way the preceding verse has been rendered, alluding to people rather than to the land or city. The allusion of “men” is, of course, to enemy soldiers and they are here compared to locusts both for their quantity and their destructiveness (see Joel 1:4). For the use of the particles כִּי אִם (ki ’im) to introduce an oath see BDB 475 s.v. כִּי אִם 2.c and compare usage in 2 Kgs 5:20; one would normally expect אִם לֹא (cf. BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b[2]).

[51:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “Their strength is dry.” This is a figurative nuance of the word “dry” which BDB 677 s.v. נָשַׁת Qal.1 explain as meaning “fails.” The idea of “strength to do battle” is implicit from the context and is supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[51:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “They have become women.” The metaphor has been turned into a simile and the significance of the comparison drawn out for the sake of clarity. See 50:37 for the same figure.

[51:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Her dwelling places have been set on fire. Her bars [i.e., the bars on the gates of her cities] have been broken.” The present translation has substituted the word “gates” for “bars” because the intent of the figure is to show that the bars of the gates have been broken giving access to the city. “Gates” makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figure.

[51:53]  ¹² tn Or “ascends [into] heaven.” Note the use of the phrase in Deut 30:12; 2 Kgs 2:11; and Amos 9:2.

[51:53]  ¹³ tn Heb “and even if she fortifies her strong elevated place.”

[51:53]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from me destroyers will go against her.”

[51:53]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:56]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ¹⁷ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ¹⁸ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”