¹ tn Heb “and they struck down all life which was in it with the edge of the sword, annihilating.”

¹ sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands a halt. The resheathed sword will return to the land where it was created, and there itself face judgment. The pronouns continue to be second person feminine singular. The sword figuratively represents the Babylonian nation, whose land is the locus of judgment.

³ sn The connection between “war” (Heb “the sword”) and the wrath or anger of the Lord has already been made in vv. 16, 27, and the sword has been referred to also in vv. 29, 31. The sword is, of course, a reference to the onslaughts of the Babylonian armies (see later Jer 51:20-23).

² tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

² tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).

⁴ tn Heb “flash of a sword.” Alternately, “swords flash.” Although לַהַב (lahav) can mean “blade” (Judg 3:22; 1 Sam 17:7), it means “flash [of the sword]” here (e.g., Hab 3:11; see HALOT 520 s.v.) as suggested by its parallelism with וּבְרַק (uv^eraq, “flashing, gleaming point [of the spear]”); cf. Job 20:25; Deut 32:41; Hab 3:11; Ezek 21:15.

⁴ sn The Hebrew has “like a sword of [two] mouths,” meaning a double-edged sword that devours/cuts either way. There is no movement without damage. There may be a wordplay here with this description of the “sword with two mouths,” and the subject of the passage being the words of her mouth which also have two sides to them. The irony is cut by the idiom.

³ sn “Should we use our swords?” The disciples’ effort to defend Jesus recalls Luke 22:35-38. One individual did not wait for the answer.

² tn Grk “extending his hand, drew out his sword, and struck.” Because rapid motion is implied in the circumstances, the translation “grabbed” was used.

¹ tn The translation “put your sword back in its place” for this phrase is given in L&N 85.52.

² tn The verb אָכַל (ʾakhal, “to consume, to devour”) is used twice for emphasis: “the fire will consume you, the sword…will devour you.”

³ tc The MT reads בִּפְתָחֶיהָ (biftakheha) “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (bapp^etikhah) “with a drawn sword.”

¹ tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.

¹ sn The imagery of blowing on the sword with fire and putting it in the hands of skillful men can evoke the work of smithies.

³ sn The second half of the verse appears to state that the sword of judgment would fall upon the wicked Ammonites, despite their efforts to prevent it.

² sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.

⁵ tn Heb “in the street the sword bereaves.” The words “a mother of her children” are supplied in the translation as a clarification.

¹ tn Heb “we have been consumed/destroyed by sword or by starvation.” The “we” cannot be taken literally here since they are still alive.

¹ sn Heb “you will not fall by the sword.” In the context this would include death in battle and execution as a prisoner of war.

² tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among them.” Here, as often elsewhere in Jeremiah, the sword is figurative for warfare that brings death. See, e.g., 15:2. The causal particle here is found in verbal locutions where it indicates the cause of emotional states or action. Hence there are really two “agents” which produce the effects of “staggering” and “acting insane,” the cup filled with God’s wrath and the sword. The sword is the “more literal” and the actual agent by which the first agent’s action is carried out.