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31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,”[a]
says the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.[b]
“Indeed,[c] your day of reckoning[d] has come,
the time when I will punish you.[e]
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.”[f]
33 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies[g] says,
“The people of Israel are oppressed.
So too are the people of Judah.[h]
All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners.
They refuse to set them free.

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Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Jeremiah 50:31 sn Cf. v. 27.
  6. 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.
  7. Jeremiah 50:33 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies.” For an explanation of this title see the study note on 2:19.
  8. 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.

31 “See, I am against(A) you, you arrogant one,”
    declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
“for your day(B) has come,
    the time for you to be punished.
32 The arrogant(C) one will stumble and fall(D)
    and no one will help her up;(E)
I will kindle a fire(F) in her towns
    that will consume all who are around her.”

33 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“The people of Israel are oppressed,(G)
    and the people of Judah as well.
All their captors hold them fast,
    refusing to let them go.(H)

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