translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: The destructive wind is a figurative reference to the “foreign people” who will “winnow” Babylon and drive out all the people (v. 2 ). This figure has already been used in 4:11-12 and in 49:36 . See the study note on 4:11-12 and the translator’s notes on 22:22 and 49:36 .


text: Heb “the people who live in Leb-qamai.” “Leb-qamai” is a code name for “Chaldeans” formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. This same principle is used in referring to Babylon in 25:26 and 51:41 as “Sheshach.” See the study note on 25:26 where further details are given. There is no consensus on why the code name is used because the terms Babylon and Chaldeans (= Babylonians) have appeared regularly in this prophecy or collection of prophecies.


text: For the concept underlying this word see the study note on “utterly destroy” in Jer 25:9 and compare the usage in 50:21, 26 .


text: See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 50:29 .


text: The imperatives here and in v. 12 are directed to the soldiers in the armies of the kings from the north (here identified as the kings of Media [see also 50:3, 9; 51:27-28 ]). They have often been addressed in this prophecy as though they were a present force (see 50:14-16; 50:21 [and the study note there]; 50:26, 29; 51:3 ) though the passage as a whole is prophetic of the future. This gives some idea of the ideal stance that the prophets adopted when they spoke of the future as though already past (the use of the Hebrew prophetic perfect which has been referred to often in the translator’s notes).


text: Media was a country in what is now northwestern Iran. At the time this prophecy was probably written they were the dominating force in the northern region, the most likely enemy to Babylon. By the time Babylon fell in 538 b.c. the Medes had been conquered and incorporated in the Persian empire by Cyrus. However, several times in the Bible this entity is known under the combined entity of Media and Persia ( Esth 1:3, 4, 18, 19; 10:2 ; Dan 5:28; 6:8, 12, 15; 8:20 ). Dan 5:31 credits the capture of Babylon to Darius the Mede, which may have been another name for Cyrus or the name by which Daniel refers to a Median general named Gobryas.


text: Babylon was situated on the Euphrates River and was surrounded by canals (also called “rivers”).


text: With the major exception discussed in the translator’s note on the preceding line vv. 15-19 are a verbatim repetition of 10:12-16 with a few minor variations in spelling. There the passage was at the end of a section in which the Lord was addressing the Judeans and trying to convince them that the worship of idols was vain – the idols were impotent but he is all powerful. Here the passage follows a solemn oath by the Lord who rules over all and is apparently directed to the Babylonians, emphasizing the power of the Lord to carry out his oath.


text: Ararat , Minni , and Ashkenaz are three kingdoms who were located in the Lake Van, Lake Urmia region which are now parts of eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran. They were kingdoms which had been conquered and made vassal states by the Medes in the early sixth century. The Medes were the dominant country in this region from around 590 b.c. until they were conquered and incorporated into the Persian empire by Cyrus in 550 b.c .


text: This is probably a poetic or shorthand way of referring to the cavalry and chariotry where horse is put for “rider” and “driver.”


text: The figure here is common in the poetic tradition of the Lord going forth to do battle against his foes and the earth’s reaction to it is compared to a person trembling with fear and writhing in agony, agony like that of a woman in labor (cf. Judg 5:4 ; Nah 1:2-5 ; Hab 3:1-15 [especially v. 6 ]).


text: Heb “Daughter Babylon.” See the study note at 50:42 for explanation.


text: The central figure here is the figure of the cup of the Lord ’s wrath (cf. 25:15-29 , especially v. 26 ). Here the Babylonians have been made to drink so deeply of it that they fall into a drunken sleep from which they will never wake up (i.e., they die, death being compared to sleep [cf. Ps 13:3 ( 13:4 HT); 76:5 ( 76:6 HT); 90:5 ]). Compare the usage in Jer 51:57 for this same figure.


text: Heb “Sheshach.” For an explanation of the usage of this name for Babylon see the study note on Jer 25:26 and that on 51:1 for a similar phenomenon. Babylon is here called “the pride of the whole earth” because it was renowned for its size, its fortifications, and its beautiful buildings.


text: God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45 ).


text: The exiles lament the way they have been humiliated.


text: For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23 .


text: See the note at Jer 51:39 .


text: See the note at Jer 2:19 .


text: This would be 582 b.c .