Yesaya 47:11

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ¹ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ² 

Yeremia 51:8

51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ³ 

Cry out in mourning over it!

Get medicine for her wounds!

Perhaps she can be healed!

Daniel 5:30

5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ⁴  was killed. ⁵ 

[47:11]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ² tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[51:8]  ³ tn The verbs in this verse and the following are all in the Hebrew perfect tense, a tense that often refers to a past action or a past action with present results. However, as the translator’s notes have indicated, the prophets use this tense to view the actions as if they were as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The stance here is ideal, viewed as already accomplished.

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

[5:30]  ⁵ sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.