Yeremia 20:12

20:12 O Lord who rules over all, ¹  you test and prove the righteous.

You see into people’s hearts and minds. ² 

Pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Yeremia 26:3

26:3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ³  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ⁴  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ⁵ 

Yeremia 29:11

29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ⁶  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ⁷  a future filled with hope. ⁸ 

Yeremia 50:12

50:12 But Babylonia will be put to great shame.

The land where you were born ⁹  will be disgraced.

Indeed, ¹⁰  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.

It will become a dry and barren desert.

[20:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[20:12]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title for God.

[20:12]  ² tn Heb “Lord of armies, the one who tests the righteous, who sees kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[20:12]  sn This verse is almost an exact duplication of the petition in one of Jeremiah’s earlier prayers and complaints. See Jer 11:20 and notes there for explanation of the Hebrew psychology underlying the use of “kidneys and heart” here. For the thoughts expressed here see Ps 17.

[26:3]  ³ tn Heb “will turn from his wicked way.”

[26:3]  ⁴ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[26:3]  sn The Lord is being consistent in the application of the principle laid down in Jer 18:7-8 that reformation of character will result in the withdrawal of the punishment of “uprooting, tearing down, destroying.” His prophecies of doom are conditional threats, open to change with change in behavior.

[26:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of their deeds.”

[29:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ⁸ tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.

[50:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Your mother will be utterly shamed, the one who gave you birth…” The word “mother” and the parallel term “the one who gave you birth” are used metaphorically for the land of Babylonia. For the figure compare the usage in Isa 50:1 (Judah) and Hos 2:2, 5 (2:4, 7 HT) and see BDB 52 s.v. אֵם 2 and 408 s.v. יָלַד Qal.2.c.

[50:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold.” For the use of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.