29:10 “For the Lord says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule 1 are over will I again take up consideration for you. 2 Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore 3 you to your homeland. 4
51:28 Prepare the nations to do battle against her. 5
Prepare the kings of the Medes.
Prepare their governors and all their leaders. 6
Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. 7
1 sn See the study note on Jer 25:11 for the reckoning of the seventy years.
2 tn See the translator’s note on Jer 27:22 for this term.
3 tn Verse 10 is all one long sentence in the Hebrew original: “According to the fullness of Babylon seventy years I will take thought of you and I will establish my gracious word to you by bringing you back to this place.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style.
4 tn Heb “this place.” The text has probably been influenced by the parallel passage in 27:22. The term appears fifteen times in Jeremiah and is invariably a reference to Jerusalem or Judah.
sn See Jer 27:22 for this promise.
5 tn See the first translator’s note on 51:27 and compare also 6:4 and the study note there.
6 tn See the translator’s note at 51:23 for the rendering of the terms here.
7 tc The Hebrew text has a confusing switch of possessive pronouns in this verse: “Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, her governors and prefects, and all the land of his dominion.” This has led to a number of different resolutions. The LXX (the Greek version) renders the word “kings” as singular and levels all the pronouns to “his,” paraphrasing the final clause and combining it with “king of the Medes” to read “and of all the earth.” The Latin Vulgate levels them all to the third masculine plural, and this is followed by the present translation as well as a number of other modern English versions (NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, NCV). The ASV and NJPS understand the feminine to refer to Media, i.e., “her governors and all her prefects” and understand the masculine in the last line to be a distributive singular referring back to the lands each of the governors and prefects ruled over. This is probably correct but since governors and prefects refer to officials appointed over provinces and vassal states it amounts to much the same interpretation that the Latin Vulgate, the present translation, and other modern English versions have given.