2:20 “Indeed, 1 long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me. 2
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ 3
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 4
3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again. 5
Doing that would utterly defile the land. 6
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. 7
So what makes you think you can return to me?” 8
says the Lord.
4:31 In fact, 9 I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,
a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.
It is the cry of Daughter Zion 10 gasping for breath,
reaching out for help, 11 saying, “I am done in! 12
My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”
8:19 I hear my dear people 13 crying out 14
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 15
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King 16 no longer there?’”
The Lord answers, 17
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?” 18
46:21 Even her mercenaries 19
will prove to be like pampered, 20 well-fed calves.
For they too will turn and run away.
They will not stand their ground
when 21 the time for them to be destroyed comes,
the time for them to be punished.
48:32 I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. 22
Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea. 23
They reached as far as the town of Jazer. 24
The destroyer will ravage
her fig, date, 25 and grape crops.
50:2 “Announce 26 the news among the nations! Proclaim it!
Signal for people to pay attention! 27
Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:
‘Babylon will be captured.
Bel 28 will be put to shame.
Marduk will be dismayed.
Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.
Her disgusting images 29 will be dismayed. 30
51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. 31
Flee to save your lives.
Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.
For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.
He will pay Babylonia 32 back for what she has done. 33
51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all 34 says,
“Babylon’s thick wall 35 will be completely demolished. 36
Her high gates will be set on fire.
The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. 37
The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” 38
1 tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.
2 tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.
3 tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.
4 tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.
5 tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
sn For the legal background for the illustration that is used here see Deut 24:1-4.
6 tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
7 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
8 tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.
9 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.
10 sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.
11 tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.
12 tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”
13 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
14 tn Heb “Behold the voice of the crying of the daughter of my people.”
15 tn Heb “Land of distances, i.e., of wide extent.” For parallel usage cf. Isa 33:17.
16 tn Heb “her King” but this might be misunderstood by some to refer to the Davidic ruler even with the capitalization.
17 tn The words, “The
18 sn The people’s cry and the
19 tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”
20 tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.
21 tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.
22 tc Or “I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah more than I will weep over the town of Jazer.” The translation here assumes that there has been a graphic confusion of מ (mem) with כְּ (kaf) or בְּ (bet). The parallel passage in Isa 16:9 has the preposition בְּ and the Greek version presupposes a comparative idea “as with.” Many of the modern English versions render the passage with the comparative מִן (min) as in the alternate translation, but it is unclear what the force of the comparison would be here. The verse is actually in the second person, an apostrophe or direct address to the grapevine(s) of Sibmah. However, the translation has retained the third person throughout because such sudden shifts in person are uncommon in contemporary English literature and retaining the third person is smoother. The Hebrew text reads: “From/With the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your tendrils crossed over the sea. They reached unto the sea of Jazer. Upon your summer fruit and your vintage [grape harvest] the destroyer has fallen.”
23 tn Heb “crossed over to the Sea.”
24 tn Or “reached the sea of Jazer.” The Sea is generally taken to be a reference to the Dead Sea. The translation presupposes that the word “sea” is to be omitted before “Jazer.” The word is missing from two Hebrew
sn Though there is some doubt about the precise location of these places, Sibmah is generally considered to have been located slightly north and west of Heshbon and Jazer further north toward the border of Ammon not far from the city of Amman. Most commentators see the reference here (and in the parallel in Isa 16:8) to the spread of viticulture westward and northward from the vineyards of Sibmah. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 318-19), however, see the reference rather to the spread of trade in wine westward beyond the coast of the Mediterranean and eastward into the desert.
25 tn Heb “her summer fruit.” See the translator’s note on 40:10 for the rendering here. According to BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.4.a, the verb means to “fall upon” or “attack” but in the context it is probably metonymical for attack and destroy.
26 tn The verbs are masculine plural. Jeremiah is calling on other unnamed messengers to spread the news.
27 tn Heb “Raise a signal flag.”
28 sn Bel was originally the name or title applied to the Sumerian storm god. During the height of Babylon’s power it became a title that was applied to Marduk who was Babylon’s chief deity. As a title it means “Lord.” Here it is a poetical parallel reference to Marduk mentioned in the next line.
29 tn The Hebrew word used here (גִּלּוּלִים, gillulim) is always used as a disdainful reference to idols. It is generally thought to have originally referred to “dung pellets” (cf. KBL 183 s.v. גִלּוּלִים). It is only one of several terms used in this way, such as “worthless things” (אַלִילִים, ’alilim), “vanities,” or “empty winds” (הֲבָלִים, havalim).
30 tn The verbs here are all in the tense that views the actions as though they were already done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The verbs in the next verse are a mixture of prophetic perfects and imperfects which announce future actions.
sn This refers to the fact that the idols that the Babylonians worshiped will not be able to protect them, but will instead be carried off into exile with the Babylonians themselves (cf. Isa 46:1-2).
31 tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).
32 tn Heb “her.”
33 tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”
34 sn See the note at Jer 2:19.
35 tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew
36 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”
37 tn Heb “for what is empty.”
38 tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”