Jeremiah 50:30-34
30 So her young men will fall in her city squares.All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”
says the Lord. ▼
▼ Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ▼
says the Lord God who rules over all. ▼
“Indeed, ▼
▼ 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.
your day of reckoning ▼▼ The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
has come, the time when I will punish you. ▼
32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city;
no one will help you get up.
I will set fire to your towns;
it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ▼
▼ 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). It is easier for the modern reader who is not accustomed to such sudden shifts 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.
33 The Lord who rules over all ▼ says,
“The people of Israel are oppressed.
So too are the people of Judah. ▼
▼ 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.
All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.
They refuse to set them free.
34 But the one who will rescue them ▼
▼ 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.
is strong. He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ▼
He will strongly ▼
▼ 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).
champion their cause. As a result ▼ he will bring peace and rest to the earth,
but trouble and turmoil ▼
▼ 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.
to the people who inhabit Babylonia. ▼▼ 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….”
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