Laboring for what?
Jeremiah continues his long prophecy against Babylon. It ends by telling how the message was delivered to Babylon:
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’ ”
Jeremiah 51:61-64a
Seraiah is not to only deliver the message, but his actions are part of the message.
The message ends by repeating a word from immediately before Jeremiah’s instruction in Jeremiah 51:58: “The peoples labor for nothing, / and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” The Hebrew is actually closer than the ESV quoted here, ending “and they shall become exhausted” just as in verse 64 (see also Habakkuk 2:13). This phrase is a single word in Hebrew (וְיָעֵֽפוּ, ve’ya’ephu) from the root יעף, meaning to be/grow weary. This can include physical, emotional, or spiritual weariness. The word for labor (יגע, yg’) carries a similar idea.
What do they labor for? The Hebrew translated “nothing” is more literally “enough of emptiness” or “sufficient vanity”. All of Babylon’s toil amounts to nothing, just adding fuel to the fire of their destruction.
However, the Lord has another message for those laboring and weary, found in a well-known passage in Isaiah (color coded to make it easier to see the repetition):
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Isaiah 40:28-31
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint (יעף) or grow weary (יגע);
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint (יעף),
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint (יעף) and be weary (יגע),
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary (יגע);
they shall walk and not faint (יעף).
The Lord does not tire or grow weary. Rather, he strengthens the the tired and uplifts the weary who place their hope in him.
To Ponder…
- What drains you? What is worth exhausting yourself over? What is not?
- Who do you know that needs to be strengthened?
As I reflect on this past year, I think of the many discouragements which sapped my energy. Nevertheless, there have been other times when I’ve felt so tired yet been reenergized by a kind word or engaging conversation. I pray the Lord gives us wisdom to know for what to strive and the strength to accomplish it.