Jeremiah 50:30-34

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 50:30 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
2. Jeremiah 50:31 tn Heb “Behold, I am against you, proud one.” The word “city” is not in the text, but it is generally agreed that the word is being used as a personification of the city, which had “proudly defied” the Lord (v. 29). The word “city” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
3. Jeremiah 50:31 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord Yahweh of Armies.” For the rendering of this title and an explanation of its significance, see the study note on 2:19.
4. Jeremiah 50:31 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is probably asseverative here (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 739, n. 13, and cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e for other examples). This has been a common use of this particle in the book of Jeremiah.
5. Jeremiah 50:31 tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
6. Jeremiah 50:31 sn Cf. v. 27.
7. Jeremiah 50:32 tn Heb “And the proud one will fall, and there will be no one to help him up. I will start a fire in his towns, and it will consume all that surround him.” The personification continues, but now the stance is indirect (third person) rather than direct (second person). For the modern reader who is not accustomed to such sudden shifts, it is easier if the second person is maintained. The personification of the city (or nation) as masculine is a little unusual; normally cities and nations are personified as feminine, as daughters or mothers.
8. Jeremiah 50:33 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies.” For an explanation of this title see the study note on 2:19.
9. Jeremiah 50:33 tn Heb “Oppressed are the people of Israel and the people of Judah together,” i.e., both the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. However, neither of these renderings is very poetic. The translation seeks to achieve the same meaning with better poetic expression.
10. Jeremiah 50:34 sn Heb “their redeemer.” The Hebrew term “redeemer” referred in Israelite family law to the nearest male relative, who was responsible for securing the freedom of a relative who had been sold into slavery. For further discussion of this term, as well as its metaphorical use to refer to God as the one who frees Israel from bondage in Egypt and from exile in Assyria and Babylonia, see the study note on 31:11.
11. Jeremiah 50:34 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 2:19.
12. Jeremiah 50:34 tn Or “he will certainly champion.” The infinitive absolute before the finite verb here is probably functioning to intensify the verb rather than to express the certainty of the action (cf. GKC 333 §112.n, and compare usage in Gen 43:3 and 1 Sam 20:6 listed there).
13. Jeremiah 50:34 tn This appears to be another case where the particle לְמַעַן (l^emaʿan) introduces a result rather than giving the purpose or goal. See the translator’s note on 25:7, with a listing of other examples in the book of Jeremiah, and also the translator’s note on 27:10.
14. Jeremiah 50:34 tn Heb “he will bring rest to the earth and will cause unrest to.” The terms “rest” and “unrest” have been doubly translated to give more of the idea underlying these two concepts.
15. Jeremiah 50:34 tn This translation again reflects the problem, often encountered in these prophecies, where the Lord appears to be speaking but refers to himself in the third person. It would be possible to translate here using the first person as CEV and NIrV do. However, to sustain that over the whole verse results in a considerably greater degree of paraphrase. The verse could be rendered: “But I am strong and I will rescue them. I am the Lord who rules over all. I will champion their cause. And I will bring peace and rest to….”