Discovery BoxJeremiah 51:36-37 
Context51:36 Therefore the Lord says,
“I will stand up for your cause.
I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. 1
I will dry up their sea.
I will make their springs run dry. 2
51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there. 3
It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,
a place where no one lives. 4
1 tn Heb “I will avenge your vengeance [= I will take vengeance for you; the phrase involves a verb and a cognate accusative].” The meaning of the phrase has been spelled out in more readily understandable terms.
2 tn Heb “I will dry up her [Babylon’s] sea and make her fountain dry.” “Their” has been substituted for “her” because “Babylonians” has been inserted in the previous clause and is easier to understand than the personification of Babylon = “her.”
sn The reference to their sea is not clear. Most interpreters understand it to be a figurative reference to the rivers and canals surrounding Babylon. But some feel it refers to the reservoir that the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, Queen Nictoris, had made.
3 tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.
4 tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”
