¹ sn The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and political alliance with Assyria to a woman’s immoral lovers. The prophet Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13).

² sn The referent for their sea is not clear. Most interpreters take it as a figure for the rivers and canals surrounding Babylon. But some apply it to the reservoir that the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, Queen Nictoris, had made.

² 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 this figure is employed in a taunt of Egypt, which had boasted that it would cover the earth like the flooding of the Nile.

² tn Heb “They have become women.” The metaphor has been turned into a simile and the significance of the comparison drawn out for the sake of clarity. See 50:37 for the same figure.

¹ tn The words “of her wrath” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to help readers who are not familiar with the figure of the “cup of the Lord’s wrath.”

² sn Teman here appears to be a poetic equivalent for Edom in a common figure of speech for Hebrew poetry where the part is put for the whole. “The people of Teman” is thus equivalent to all the people of Edom.

¹ tn Heb “Therefore his taste remains in him, and his aroma is not changed.” The metaphor is changed into a simile in an attempt to help the reader understand the figure in the context.

¹ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way, but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

² tn According to E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 954), both this question and the one in v. 13 are examples of rhetorical questions of prohibition: “don’t let this city be made a pile of rubble.”

³ sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.

² tn Heb “I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.” The word “gates” is here being used figuratively for the cities, the part for the whole. See 14:2 and the notes there.

² tn Heb “on my loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion, including the figurative uses, see R. C. Dentan, “Loins,” IDB 3:149-50.

² tn Heb “upon your loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion including the figurative uses see, IDB, “Loins,” 3:149.

⁴ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

¹ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

¹ tn This word is not in the text but is supplied in the translation. Jeremiah uses a figure of speech (enallage) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to address him/her directly.

³ tn Heb “They will beat down with the sword.” The term “sword” is a figure of speech (synecdoche) for military weapons in general. Siege ramps, not swords, beat down city walls; swords kill people, not city walls.

² tn Heb “how evil and bitter.” The reference is to the consequences of their acts. This is a figure of speech (hendiadys) where two nouns or adjectives joined by “and” introduce a main concept modified by the other noun or adjective.

² tn Heb “my shepherd.” The shepherd motif is sometimes applied, as here, to a royal figure who is responsible for the well-being of the people whom he rules.

³ tn Heb “his eye.” The term “eye” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., the eye) for the whole (i.e., the whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 647.