Jeremiah 25

Translator Notes

1. The dual dating formula synchronizes Judah's calendar with Babylon's, placing this oracle at approximately 605 BCE. This is the year of the Battle of Carchemish, when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt and established Babylonian dominance over the entire region. The Hebrew uses 'Nevukhadretsar,' a closer transliteration of the Akkadian Nabû-kudurri-uṣur; we use the conventional English 'Nebuchadnezzar.'

Translator Notes

1. The Hebrew le'mor ('saying') functions as a speech-introduction marker and is rendered as a colon. The address is to 'all the people' — this is a public oracle, not a private word to the king or the priests.

Translator Notes

1. The thirteen years of Josiah correspond to 627/626 BCE, the traditional date of Jeremiah's call (1:2). Twenty-three years of prophetic ministry had produced no repentance. The idiom hashkem vedabber ('rising early and speaking') is the characteristic Jeremiah expression for persistent, tireless effort — we render it as 'persistently' rather than the literally awkward 'rising early and speaking,' consistent with our rendering in 7:13 and 11:7.

Translator Notes

1. Again the hashkem idiom, now applied to God sending prophets. The double refusal — 'did not listen' (lo shema'tem) and 'did not incline your ear' (lo hittitem et-oznekhem) — represents a willful refusal at every level: they neither heard the message nor positioned themselves to receive it.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb shuv ('turn back, return') is Jeremiah's central term for repentance — a spatial metaphor of returning to where one belongs. The phrase min-olam ve'ad-olam ('from eternity to eternity') describes the intended permanence of the land grant; we render olam as 'ancient times' and 'into the future' to capture the Hebrew sense of time stretching beyond view in both directions, rather than the philosophically loaded 'forever and ever.'

Translator Notes

1. The phrase 'work of your hands' (ma'aseh yedeikhem) is double-edged — it refers both to the idols they have manufactured and to the deeds of idolatry they have performed. The conditional structure is implicit in the Hebrew: the promise of 'no harm' is contingent on obedience.

Translator Notes

1. The Hebrew lema'an ('so as to, in order that') creates a jarring purpose clause — their refusal to listen functioned as if its purpose were to provoke God. Whether this implies deliberate intent or describes the inevitable result of their actions is ambiguous in the Hebrew; we preserve the ambiguity. Ne'um YHWH is rendered with the locked formula 'declares the LORD.'

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The title YHWH tseva'ot ('LORD of Hosts') invokes God as commander of heavenly armies — the military epithet appropriate to the announcement of invasion that follows. The shift from ne'um YHWH (v. 7) to koh amar YHWH tseva'ot signals an escalation in divine authority.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Hinneni ('look, I am about to') signals imminent divine action. The designation avdi ('my servant') for Nebuchadnezzar is extraordinary — the same title given to Moses, David, and the prophets is here applied to a foreign conqueror. The verb hacharamtim ('devote to destruction') is cherem vocabulary — total consecration to destruction, the same verb used for the conquest of Canaan. The three-fold result — shammah (horror), shreqah (hissing/scorn), charvot olam (perpetual ruins) — is a standard Jeremianic curse formula.

Translator Notes

1. This verse catalogs the sounds and sights of normal life that will cease — celebration (joy, gladness), domestic life (bride, bridegroom), daily labor (millstone grinding), and basic illumination (lamp). The six items progress from festive to mundane, showing that everything from weddings to the grinding of daily grain will stop. This formula recurs in 7:34, 16:9, and 33:11, and is echoed in Revelation 18:22-23 describing Babylon's fall.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase shiv'im shanah ('seventy years') appears here and in verse 12. The number generates debate: it may refer to the period from 605 (Nebuchadnezzar's first campaign) to 539 BCE (Cyrus's conquest of Babylon), roughly sixty-six years; or from 586 (temple destruction) to 516 (temple rededication), exactly seventy years. The text itself simply states the number without resolving the calculation. We preserve the number without interpretive comment in the rendering itself.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb paqad ('visit, attend to, punish') here means to call to account — God will 'visit' Babylon's guilt upon it. The term avon ('iniquity') implies accumulated guilt, not a single offense. The judgment on Babylon is framed as symmetrical justice — the instrument of punishment will itself be punished. The 'land of the Chaldeans' (erets kasdim) identifies Babylon by its ethnic-geographic name.

Translator Notes

1. The reference to 'this scroll' (ha-sefer ha-zeh) is a rare self-referential moment in prophetic literature. It likely refers to an earlier collection of Jeremiah's oracles against the nations (chapters 46-51), which may have originally been placed here in some textual traditions. The Septuagint (LXX) actually positions the oracles against the nations after 25:13, confirming that different arrangements of Jeremiah circulated in antiquity. We render sefer as 'scroll' rather than 'book' to reflect the physical medium of the seventh century BCE.

Translator Notes

1. The verse describes a chain of domination — Babylon enslaved nations, and in turn other nations and kings will enslave Babylon. The verb shillam ('repay, recompense') carries the sense of completing a transaction, settling a debt. The principle of symmetrical justice — the oppressor experiencing what it inflicted — runs through the prophetic tradition (cf. Obadiah 15).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The kos hayayin hachema ('cup of the wine of wrath') is a compound construct chain — literally 'cup-of wine-of wrath.' The image combines intoxication with divine fury: the nations will stagger and reel not from alcohol but from the overwhelming force of God's judgment. This cup-of-wrath image is foundational to the biblical tradition, echoed in Isaiah 51:17, Ezekiel 23:31-34, Habakkuk 2:16, and Revelation 14:10.

Translator Notes

1. Three verbs describe the effect of the cup: shatu ('they will drink'), hitgo'ashu ('they will stagger/reel'), and hitholalu ('they will go mad'). The progression moves from drinking to physical disorientation to mental collapse. The sword (cherev) is the instrument — the cup is the metaphor for the experience of judgment; the sword is the literal reality behind it.

Translator Notes

1. Jeremiah's compliance is immediate — no protest, no intercession. The prophetic act is described as if Jeremiah physically traveled to each nation with the cup, though this is visionary rather than literal. The verb va'ashqeh ('I made them drink') uses the causative stem — the nations do not drink voluntarily.

Translator Notes

1. Jerusalem heads the list — judgment begins with God's own people (cf. 1 Peter 4:17). The four-fold curse formula — chorbah (ruin), shammah (horror), shreqah (scorn/hissing), qelalah (curse) — is a standard Jeremianic judgment formula. The phrase 'as they are this day' (ka-yom ha-zeh) indicates the prophecy is being recorded after the fall of Jerusalem, placing the editorial frame in the exilic or post-exilic period.

Translator Notes

1. Egypt is listed first among the foreign nations because it was Judah's traditional ally and the power Judah foolishly relied on instead of trusting God (cf. 2:18, 37:5-7). The comprehensiveness — servants, officials, all his people — indicates that no level of Egyptian society escapes judgment.

Translator Notes

1. The ha'erev ('mixed peoples') likely refers to diverse populations living in frontier or border regions — possibly mercenary groups or mixed ethnic communities. The land of Uz is traditionally associated with the setting of Job (Job 1:1), located in the region east of Palestine. The four Philistine cities named here omit Gath, which had already been destroyed by the time of this oracle. The 'remnant of Ashdod' (she'erit Ashdod) suggests that Ashdod had already suffered significant destruction, possibly by the Assyrians in 711 BCE.

Translator Notes

1. These three nations east and southeast of Judah were traditionally connected to Israel through ancestral kinship — Edom through Esau (Genesis 36), Moab and Ammon through Lot (Genesis 19:36-38). Their inclusion in the judgment is particularly pointed: not even blood relatives escape God's reckoning.

Translator Notes

1. Tyre and Sidon were the great Phoenician maritime powers. The 'coastlands across the sea' (ha'i asher be'ever hayam) refers to the Mediterranean islands and coastal settlements — possibly Cyprus, Crete, and other Phoenician colonies. The scope of judgment is expanding outward from Jerusalem in concentric circles.

Translator Notes

1. Dedan, Tema, and Buz are Arabian tribes. The phrase qetsutsai fe'ah ('those who shave their temples') refers to a distinctive haircut practice of certain Arabian desert peoples — shaving or cropping the hair at the corners of the head. This practice is mentioned in 9:25 and 49:32 and was forbidden for Israelites (Leviticus 19:27).

Translator Notes

1. The repetition of ha'erev ('mixed peoples,' cf. v. 20) alongside Arav ('Arabia') creates a wordplay — the similar-sounding words link the concept of ethnic mixing with the Arabian desert region. These are the semi-nomadic populations of the Arabian peninsula and the Syrian-Arabian desert.

Translator Notes

1. Zimri is an otherwise unidentified kingdom, possibly in the Arabian or eastern region. Elam (modern southwestern Iran) and Media (modern northwestern Iran) represent the far eastern reaches of the known world. The inclusion of Media is significant — the Medes would later ally with Babylon under Cyrus to create the Persian Empire that would conquer Babylon itself.

Translator Notes

1. Sheshach (שֵׁשַׁךְ) is an atbash cipher for Babel (בָּבֶל). Atbash substitutes the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the last, the second for the second-to-last, and so on: shin (שׁ) replaces bet (ב), and kaph (ךְ) replaces lamed (ל). Babylon drinks last — the instrument of judgment becomes the final object of judgment. The coded name may reflect either literary artistry or political caution in naming the reigning superpower directly. The phrase 'all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth' makes the scope unmistakably universal.

Translator Notes

1. Four brutal imperatives — shetu ('drink'), shikru ('get drunk'), qi'u ('vomit'), niplu ('fall') — escalate from consumption to collapse. The physical effects of severe intoxication serve as a metaphor for the overwhelming nature of divine judgment. The command lo taqumu ('you will not rise') transforms the drinking metaphor into a death sentence — they will fall and never stand again.

Translator Notes

1. The emphatic infinitive absolute shato tishtu ('drinking, you will drink') removes any possibility of refusal. The nations cannot opt out of God's judgment. The absolute certainty expressed by the Hebrew construction leaves no room for negotiation — this is not an offer but a decree.

Translator Notes

1. The argument is from greater to lesser: if God punishes his own city — the one that 'bears his name' (niqra shemi aleha, lit. 'my name is called over it') — how much less will the nations escape? The phrase niqra shemi conveys ownership and patronage; Jerusalem belongs to God, and even belonging to God does not exempt it from judgment for covenant violation. The rhetorical question hinnaqeh tinnaqqu ('will you be completely acquitted?') expects a negative answer, reinforced by the emphatic lo tinnaqqu ('you will not be acquitted').

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The text shifts from prose to poetry at this point. The verb sha'ag ('roar') is lion imagery — God is a roaring lion against the earth (cf. Amos 1:2, Hosea 11:10, Joel 3:16). The word naveh can mean both 'dwelling' and 'pasture/fold,' creating an ambiguity: God roars from his dwelling (heaven) against his fold (his people/the earth). The grape-treaders' shout (hedad) was a rhythmic cry used during harvest — here it becomes the war cry of divine judgment, turning the joyful harvest image into a scene of slaughter.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word riv ('case, controversy, legal dispute') frames God's judgment as a lawsuit — a formal legal proceeding against the nations. This is the covenant lawsuit (riv) genre familiar from Micah 6:1-2 and Hosea 4:1. The verb nishpat ('enters judgment') reinforces the legal metaphor. God is both plaintiff and judge in this cosmic court.

Translator Notes

1. The word se'ar ('storm, tempest, whirlwind') depicts God's judgment as a massive weather event sweeping across the entire world. The phrase yarketei-arets ('farthest corners of the earth') indicates the storm comes from the remote edges of the known world — from where one cannot see what is coming until it arrives. The disaster is not localized but cascading — migoi el goi ('from nation to nation') — like a chain reaction.

Translator Notes

1. Chalelei YHWH ('the slain of the LORD') attributes the killing directly to God — these are not casualties of war but executions of divine judgment. The three negated verbs — lo yissafdu (not mourned), lo ye'asfu (not gathered), lo yiqqaveru (not buried) — deny the dead every dignity. Lack of burial was the ultimate horror in the ancient Near East; the body exposed as dung (domen) represents absolute debasement.

Translator Notes

1. The 'shepherds' (ro'im) are rulers and leaders, and the 'lords of the flock' (addirei hatson) are the elite among them. The verb hitpalleshu ('roll in the dust') describes extreme mourning — throwing oneself on the ground and rolling in ashes or dirt. The simile 'like a prized vessel' (kikheli chemdah) compares their destruction to the shattering of an expensive ceramic piece — beautiful, valuable, and irreparably broken. Some manuscripts read utfutsoteikhem ('your dispersions') while others read utfutsoteikhem as 'your scatterings' — both indicate the leaders will be scattered like fragments.

Translator Notes

1. The Hebrew expresses this as the 'perishing' (avad) of flight — escape itself has been destroyed. The parallel structure — manos (flight/refuge) for the shepherds, peleitah (escape) for the lords — reinforces the total closure of all exit routes for the ruling class.

Translator Notes

1. The subject of the destruction is explicit — YHWH shoded ('the LORD destroys'). The word mar'it ('pasture') continues the shepherd-flock metaphor: the pasture is the kingdom, and God himself is laying waste to it. The reversal is complete: the shepherd God who 'makes me lie down in green pastures' (Psalm 23:2) is now the God who destroys the pasture.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ne'ot hashalom ('meadows of peace/the peaceful meadows') uses shalom in its fullest sense — these are places of wholeness, flourishing, well-being, now silenced. The verb nadamu ('are silenced, are devastated') carries both meanings — literal silence (the sounds of life cease) and destruction (they are laid waste). The cause is charon af YHWH ('burning anger of the LORD') — the fierceness of God's fury.

Translator Notes

1. The subject 'he' most likely refers to God, who has emerged from his dwelling like a young lion (kefir) leaving its thicket to hunt. The word hayonah is textually difficult — it may derive from yanah ('to oppress,' hence 'the oppressor/oppressing sword') or may be an unusual form related to cherev ('sword'). The Septuagint reads 'the sword' and many modern translations follow this. We render 'raging sword' to capture the sense of violent instrument while acknowledging the textual difficulty. The final phrase charon appo ('his burning anger') confirms that the devastation flows from God's wrath.