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25 How deserted will that once-famous city[a] be,
that city that was once filled with[b] joy![c]
26 For her young men will fall in her city squares.
All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.[d]
27 “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;
it will burn up the palaces of Ben Hadad.”[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 49:25 tn Heb “city of praise.”
  2. Jeremiah 49:25 tn Heb “city of joy.”
  3. Jeremiah 49:25 tc Or “Why has that famous city not been abandoned, that city I once took delight in?” The translation follows the majority of modern commentaries in understanding לֹא (loʾ, “not”) before “abandoned” as a misunderstanding of the emphatic ל (lamed; so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 723, n. 3, and J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 333, n. c; see also IBHS 211-12 §11.2.10i and HALOT 485-86 s.v. II לְ for the phenomenon). The particle is missing from the Vulgate. The translation also follows the versions in omitting the suffix on the word “joy” that is found in the Hebrew text (see BHS note b for a listing of the versions). This gives a better connection with the preceding and the following verse than the alternate translation.
  4. Jeremiah 49:26 tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of Armies.” For this title for God see the study note on 2:19.
  5. Jeremiah 49:27 sn Ben Hadad was a common name borne by a number of the kings of Damascus, e.g., one during the time of Asa around 900 b.c. (cf. 1 Kgs 15:18-20), one a little later during the time of Omri and Ahab around 850 (1 Kgs 20), and one during the time of Jehoash about 800 (2 Kgs 13:24-25).

25 Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
    the town in which I delight?
26 Surely, her young men(A) will fall in the streets;
    all her soldiers will be silenced(B) in that day,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
27 “I will set fire(C) to the walls of Damascus;(D)
    it will consume(E) the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.(F)

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