Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:37 
Context2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt
with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame 1
because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful
and you will not gain any help from them. 2
Jeremiah 8:9
Context8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. 3
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
Jeremiah 22:22
Context22:22 My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! 4
Your allies will go into captivity.
Then you will certainly 5 be disgraced and put to shame
because of all the wickedness you have done.
Jeremiah 48:39
Context48:39 Oh, how shattered Moab will be!
Oh, how her people will wail!
Oh, how she will turn away 6 in shame!
Moab will become an object of ridicule,
a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”
Jeremiah 50:12
Context50:12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame.
The land where you were born 7 will be disgraced.
Indeed, 8 Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.
It will become a dry and barren desert.
Jeremiah 51:47
Context51:47 “So the time will certainly come 9
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. 10
1 tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.
2 tn Heb “The
3 tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).
4 tn Heb “A wind will shepherd away all your shepherds.” The figures have all been interpreted in the translation for the sake of clarity. For the use of the word “wind” as a metaphor or simile for God’s judgment (using the enemy forces) see 4:11-12; 13:24; 18:17. For the use of the word “shepherd” to refer to rulers/leaders 2:8; 10:21; and 23:1-4. For the use of the word “shepherd away” in the sense of carry off/drive away see BDB 945 s.v. רָעָה 2.d and compare Job 20:26. There is an obvious wordplay involved in two different senses of the word “shepherd,” one referring to their leaders and one referring to the loss of those leaders by the wind driving them off. There may even be a further play involving the word “wickedness” which comes from a word having the same consonants. If the oracles in this section are chronologically ordered this threat was fulfilled in 597
5 tn The use of the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is intensive here and probably also at the beginning of the last line of v. 21. (See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.)
6 tn Heb “turn her back.”
7 tn Heb “Your mother will be utterly shamed, the one who gave you birth…” The word “mother” and the parallel term “the one who gave you birth” are used metaphorically for the land of Babylonia. For the figure compare the usage in Isa 50:1 (Judah) and Hos 2:2, 5 (2:4, 7 HT) and see BDB 52 s.v. אֵם 2 and 408 s.v. יָלַד Qal.2.c.
8 tn Heb “Behold.” For the use of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.
9 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.
10 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.
