Yeremia 51:45-51

51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!

Flee to save your lives

from the fierce anger of the Lord! ¹ 

51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid

because of the reports that are heard in the land.

For a report will come in one year.

Another report will follow it in the next.

There will be violence in the land

with ruler fighting against ruler.”

51:47 “So the time will certainly come ² 

when I will punish the idols of Babylon.

Her whole land will be put to shame.

All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. ³ 

51:48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them

will sing for joy over Babylon.

For destroyers from the north will attack it,”

says the Lord. ⁴ 

51:49 “Babylon must fall ⁵ 

because of the Israelites she has killed, ⁶ 

just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell

because of Babylon. ⁷ 

51:50 You who have escaped the sword, ⁸ 

go, do not delay. ⁹ 

Remember the Lord in a faraway land.

Think about Jerusalem. ¹⁰ 

51:51 ‘We ¹¹  are ashamed because we have been insulted. ¹² 

Our faces show our disgrace. ¹³ 

For foreigners have invaded

the holy rooms ¹⁴  in the Lord’s temple.’

[51:45]  ¹ tn Heb “Go out from her [Babylon’s] midst, my people. Save each man his life from the fierce anger of the Lord.” The verb has been paraphrased to prevent gender specific terms.

[51:45]  sn Compare Jer 50:8-10; 51:6 where the significance of saving oneself from the fierce anger of the Lord is clarified.

[51:47]  ² tn Heb “That being so, look, days are approaching.” לָכֵן (lakhen) often introduces the effect of an action. That may be the case here, the turmoil outlined in v. 46 serving as the catalyst for the culminating divine judgment described in v. 47. Another possibility is that לָכֵן here has an asseverative force (“certainly”), as in Isa 26:14 and perhaps Jer 5:2 (see the note there). In this case the word almost has the force of “for, since,” because it presents a cause for an accompanying effect. See Judg 8:7 and the discussion of Isa 26:14 in BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.

[51:47]  ³ tn Or “all her slain will fall in her midst.” In other words, her people will be overtaken by judgment and be unable to escape. The dead will lie in heaps in the very heart of the city and land.

[51:48]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:49]  ⁵ tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate what is about to take place. See IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.

[51:49]  ⁶ tn Heb “the slain of Israel.” The words “because of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The preceding context makes it clear that Babylon would be judged for its atrocities against Israel (see especially 50:33-34; 51:10, 24, 35).

[51:49]  ⁷ tn The juxtaposition of גַם…גַם (gam...gam), often “both…and,” here indicates correspondence. See BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 4. Appropriately Babylon will fall slain just as her victims, including God’s covenant people, did.

[51:50]  ⁸ sn God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45).

[51:50]  ⁹ tn Heb “don’t stand.”

[51:50]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.

[51:50]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[51:51]  ¹¹ sn The exiles lament the way they have been humiliated.

[51:51]  ¹² tn Heb “we have heard an insult.”

[51:51]  ¹³ tn Heb “disgrace covers our face.”

[51:51]  ¹⁴ tn Or “holy places, sanctuaries.”