Jeremiah 51:45-50
New English Translation
45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!
Flee to save your lives
from the fierce anger of the Lord![a]
46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid
because of the reports that are heard in the land.
For a report will come in one year.
Another report will follow it in the next.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler fighting against ruler.
47 “So the time will certainly come[b]
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.[c]
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will sing for joy over Babylon.
For destroyers from the north will attack it,”
says the Lord.[d]
49 “Babylon must fall[e]
because of the Israelites she has killed,[f]
just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell
because of Babylon.[g]
50 You who have escaped the sword,[h]
go, do not delay.[i]
Remember the Lord in a faraway land.
Think about Jerusalem.[j]
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 51:45 tn Heb “Go out from her [Babylon’s] midst, my people. Save each man his life from the fierce anger of the Lord.” The verb has been paraphrased to prevent gender specific terms.sn Cf. Jer 50:8-10; 51:6, where the significance of saving oneself from the fierce anger of the Lord is clarified.
- Jeremiah 51:47 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.
- Jeremiah 51:47 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.
- Jeremiah 51:48 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 51:49 tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate what is about to take place. See IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.
- Jeremiah 51:49 tn Heb “the slain of Israel.” The words “because of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The preceding context makes it clear that Babylon would be judged for its atrocities against Israel (see especially 50:33-34; 51:10, 24, 35).
- Jeremiah 51:49 tn The juxtaposition of גַם…גַם (gam…gam), often “both…and,” here indicates correspondence. See BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 4. Appropriately, Babylon will fall slain just as her victims, including God’s covenant people, did.
- Jeremiah 51:50 sn God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45).
- Jeremiah 51:50 tn Heb “don’t stand.”
- Jeremiah 51:50 tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.