Texts in Conversation
Jeremiah 51 describes Babylon’s fall with images of drunkenness and endless sleep that suggests complete ruin. The Aramaic translation in the Targum intensifies this by adding the “second death,” a picture of judgment and exclusion from resurrection.
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Jeremiah 51:38
Hebrew Bible
37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives. 38 The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey; they are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. 39 When their appetites are all stirred up, I will set out a banquet for them. I will make them drunk so that they will pass out, they will fall asleep forever, they will never wake up,” says the Lord. 40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats. 41 “See how Babylon has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jonathan Jeremiah 51:38
Targum
37 And Babylon shall become heaps of stones, a dwelling-place of wild asses, desolation and astonishment, without inhabitant. 38 Together like lions they shall roar; like young lions they shall lift up their voice. 39 Bring distress upon them, and they shall be like drunken men, so that they shall not be strong, and they shall die the second death, and shall not live for the world to come, says the Lord. 40 I will hand them over like bulls to the slaughter, like rams with goats. 41 How Babylon has been conquered, and the praise of all the earth captured; how Babylon has become a desolation among the nations.
Date: 200-300 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The meaning of the concept Second Death in Judaism is varied. On the one hand it seems that the term Second Death implies a general resurrection for all humankind after which judgment is passed, including the decision about who will live for eternal life and who will die an eternal death. This is probably the meaning of the occurrences in Targum Isaiah. On the other hand there are texts that suggest an exclusion from the resurrection. To these may be reckoned the occurrences in Targum Jeremiah, where the Second Death is likened to an intoxication out of which one cannot be roused, suggesting that it concerns exclusion from the resurrection. In the same manner the tradition that occurs in Midrash Tannaim, Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer and Yalqut Shimoni speaks of the Second Death as a state from which resurrection is impossible. The meaning of the concept in the New Testament seems to be that after the general resurrection, the human race is judged on the basis of their records. Whoever is not found written in the Book of Life, will die the Second Death, which is described as a lake of fire. There seems to be a strong relation between especially the material in Targum Isaiah and the book of Revelation, but there is no complete overlap. The elements of a first resurrection and the thousand-year reign of the righteous that are prominent in Revelation are absent in the Targum ..."
Houtman, Alberdina and Magda Misset-van de Weg
"The Fate of the Wicked: Second Death in Early Jewish and Christian Texts" in Houtman, Alberdina, et. al. (eds.) Empsychoi Logoi – Religious Innovations in Antiquity: Studies in Honour of Pieter Willem van der Horst
(pp. 405-424) Brill, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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You cite Targum Jer 51:38, but the English text given is not that (I think?), and the link is for a Hebrew-only page for Targum Jer 51:4.