29:15 “You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news 1 for us here in Babylon.’
50:1 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia 2 through the prophet Jeremiah. 3
51:42 The sea has swept over Babylon.
She has been covered by a multitude 4 of its waves. 5
1 tn The words “of good news” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
3 tn Heb “The word which the
4 tn For the meaning “multitude” here rather than “tumult” see BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.c, where reference is made that this refers to a great throng of people under the figure of an overwhelming mass of waves. The word is used of a multitude of soldiers, or a vast army in 1 Sam 14:16; 1 Kgs 20:13, 18 (cf. BDB 242 s.v. הָמוֹן 3.a for further references).
5 tn Heb “The sea has risen up over Babylon. She has been covered by the multitude of its waves.”
sn This is a poetic and figurative reference to the enemies of Babylon, the foe from the north (see 50:3, 9, 51:27-28), which has attacked Babylon in wave after wave. This same figure is used in Isa 17:12. In Isa 8:7-8 the king of Assyria (and his troops) are compared to the Euphrates which rises up and floods over the whole land of Israel and Judah. This same figure, but with application to Babylon, is assumed in Jer 47:2-3. In Jer 46:7-8 the same figure is employed in a taunt of Egypt which had boasted that it would cover the earth like the flooding of the Nile.