Yeremia 2:22

2:22 You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent.

You can use as much soap as you want.

But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” ¹ 

says the Lord God. ² 

Yeremia 2:28

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ³  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Yeremia 3:10

3:10 In spite of all this, ⁴  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ⁵  says the Lord.

Yeremia 5:9

5:9 I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!” ⁶ 

Yeremia 5:29

5:29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! ⁷ 

Yeremia 8:22

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ⁸  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ⁹ 

Why then have my dear people ¹⁰ 

not been restored to health? ¹¹ 

Yeremia 9:9

9:9 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!” ¹² 

Yeremia 13:17

13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ¹³ 

I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.

I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ¹⁴ 

because you, the Lord’s flock, ¹⁵  will be carried ¹⁶  into exile.”

Yeremia 14:7

14:7 Then I said, ¹⁷ 

“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name ¹⁸ 

even though our sins speak out against us. ¹⁹ 

Indeed, ²⁰  we have turned away from you many times.

We have sinned against you.

Yeremia 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ²¹  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ²²  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ²³ 

Yeremia 22:5

22:5 But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear ²⁴  that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ²⁵ 

Yeremia 22:17

22:17 But you are always thinking and looking

for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.

Your eyes and your heart are set

on killing some innocent person

and committing fraud and oppression. ²⁶ 

Yeremia 23:24

23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself

where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. ²⁷ 

“Do you not know that I am everywhere?” ²⁸ 

the Lord asks. ²⁹ 

Yeremia 26:4

26:4 Tell them that the Lord says, ³⁰  ‘You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws. ³¹ 

Yeremia 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ³² 

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like ³³  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Yeremia 31:36

31:36 The Lord affirms, ³⁴  “The descendants of Israel will not

cease forever to be a nation in my sight.

That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights

were to cease to operate before me.” ³⁵ 

Yeremia 33:20

33:20 “I, Lord, make the following promise: ³⁶  ‘I have made a covenant with the day ³⁷  and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people ³⁸  could break that covenant

Yeremia 33:25

33:25 But I, the Lord, make the following promise: ³⁹  I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

Yeremia 38:18

38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians ⁴⁰  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ⁴¹ 

Yeremia 39:12

39:12 “Find Jeremiah ⁴²  and look out for him. ⁴³  Do not do anything to harm him, ⁴⁴  but do with him whatever he tells you.”

[2:22]  ¹ tn Heb “Even if you wash with natron/lye, and use much soap, your sin is a stain before me.”

[2:22]  ² tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of this title see the study notes on 1:6.

[2:28]  ³ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[3:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “And even in all this.”

[3:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”

[5:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Should I not punish them…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions have the force of strong declarations.

[5:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “Should I not punish…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.

[5:29]  sn These words are repeated from 5:9 to give a kind of refrain justifying again the necessity of punishment in the light of such sins.

[8:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  sn This medicinal ointment (Heb “balm”) consisted of the gum or resin from a tree that grows in Egypt and Palestine and was thought to have medicinal value (see also Jer 46:11).

[8:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

[8:22]  sn The prophet means by this metaphor that there are still means available for healing the spiritual ills of his people, mainly repentance, obedience to the law, and sole allegiance to God, and still people available who will apply this medicine to them, namely prophets like himself.

[8:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ¹¹ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

[8:22]  sn Jeremiah is lamenting that though there is a remedy available for the recovery of his people they have not availed themselves of it.

[9:9]  ¹² tn Heb “Should I not punish them…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.

[9:9]  sn See 5:9, 29. This is somewhat of a refrain at the end of a catalog of Judah’s sins.

[13:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.

[13:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”

[13:17]  sn The depth of Jeremiah’s sorrow for the sad plight of his people, if they refuse to repent, is emphasized by the triple repetition of the word “tears” twice in an emphatic verbal expression (Hebrew infinitive before finite verb) and once in the noun.

[13:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “because the Lord’s flock will…” The pronoun “you” is supplied in the translation to avoid the shift in English from the second person address at the beginning to the third person affirmation at the end. It also helps explain the metaphor of the people of Israel as God’s flock for some readers who may be unfamiliar with that metaphor.

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

[14:7]  ¹⁷ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. However, it cannot be a continuation of the Lord’s speech and the people have consistently refused to acknowledge their sin. The fact that the prayer here and in vv. 19-22 are followed by an address from God to Jeremiah regarding prayer (cf. 4:11 and the interchanges there between God and Jeremiah and 15:1) also argues that the speaker is Jeremiah. He is again identifying with his people (cf. 8:18-9:2). Here he takes up the petition part of the lament which often contains elements of confession of sin and statements of trust. In 14:1-6 God portrays to Jeremiah the people’s lamentable plight instead of their describing it to him. Here Jeremiah prays what they should pray. The people are strangely silent throughout.

[14:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Act for the sake of your name.” The usage of “act” in this absolute, unqualified sense cf. BDB 794 s.v. עָוֹשָׂה Qal.I.r and compare the usage, e.g., in 1 Kgs 8:32 and 39. For the nuance of “for the sake of your name” compare the usage in Isa 48:9 and Ezek 20:9, 14.

[14:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “bear witness against us,” or “can be used as evidence against us,” to keep the legal metaphor. Heb “testify against.”

[14:7]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can scarcely be causal here; it is either intensive (BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) or concessive (BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c). The parallel usage in Gen 18:20 argues for the intensive force as does the fact that the concessive has already been expressed by אִם (’im).

[15:1]  ²¹ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  sn Moses and Samuel were well-known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel. See Ps 99:6-8 and see, e.g., Exod 32:11-14, 30-34; 1 Sam 7:5-9. The Lord is here rejecting Jeremiah’s intercession on behalf of the people (14:19-22).

[15:1]  ²² tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ²³ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[22:5]  ²⁴ sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16; 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by no higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name.

[22:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[22:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Your eyes and your heart do not exist except for dishonest gain and for innocent blood to shed [it] and for fraud and for oppression to do [them].” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to English style and the significance of “eyes” and “heart” explained before they are introduced into the translation.

[23:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:24]  ²⁸ tn The words “Don’t you know” are not in the text. They are a way of conveying the idea that the question which reads literally “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” expects a positive answer. They follow the pattern used at the beginning of the previous two questions and continue that thought. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[26:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “thus says the Lord, ‘…’.” The use of the indirect quotation in the translation eliminates one level of embedded quotation to avoid confusion.

[26:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “by walking in my law which I set before you.”

[26:4]  sn Examples of those laws are found in Jer 7:5-6, 9. The law was summarized or epitomized in the ten commandments which are called the “words of the covenant” in Exod 34:28, but it contained much more. However, when Israel is taken to task by God, it often relates to their failure to live up to the standards of the ten commandments (Heb “the ten words”; see Hos 4:1-3; Jer 7:9).

[30:6]  ³² tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ³³ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[31:36]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:36]  ³⁵ tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘then the seed of Israel could cease from being a nation before me forever (or more literally, “all the days”).’” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to modern style. The connection has been maintained by reversing the order of condition and consequence and still retaining the condition in the second clause. For the meaning of “cease to operate” for the verb מוּשׁ (mush) compare the usage in Isa 54:10; Ps 55:11 (55:12 HT); Prov 17:13 where what is usually applied to persons or things is applied to abstract things like this (see HALOT 506 s.v. II מוּשׁ Qal for general usage).

[33:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the Lord is speaking so the first person introduction has again been adopted. The content of the verse shows that it is a promise to David (vv. 21-22) and the Levites based on a contrary to fact condition (v. 20). See further the translator’s note at the end of the next verse for explanation of the English structure adopted here.

[33:20]  ³⁷ tn The word יוֹמָם (yomam) is normally an adverb meaning “daytime, by day, daily.” However, here and in v. 25 and in Jer 15:9 it means “day, daytime” (cf. BDB 401 s.v. יוֹמָם 1).

[33:20]  ³⁸ tn Heb “you.” The pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43; 33:10.

[33:25]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” See the translator’s note at the beginning of v. 20 for the style adopted here. Here the promise is in v. 26 following the contrary to fact condition in v. 25. The Hebrew text of vv. 25-26 reads: “Thus says the Lord, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night [and] the laws/statutes of heaven and earth, also I could reject the seed of Jacob and David my servant from taking from his seed as rulers over the seed of Abraham…” The syntax of the original is a little awkward because it involves the verbs “establish” and “reject” governing two objects, the first governing two similar objects “my covenant” and “the regulations” and the second governing two dissimilar objects “the seed of Jacob” and “my servant David from taking [so as not to take].” The translation has sought to remove these awkward syntactical constructions and also break down the long complex original sentence in such a way as to retain its original intent, i.e., the guarantee of the continuance of the seed of Jacob and of the rule of a line of David’s descendants over them based on the fixed order of God’s creation decrees.

[38:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”

[38:18]  sn Zedekiah held out this hope of escape until the end and attempted to do so but was unsuccessful (cf. 39:4-5).

[39:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “Get [or fetch] him.” The referent is supplied for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁴³ tn Or “take care of him”; Heb “set your eyes on him.” For the meaning of this idiom see BDB 963 s.v. שִׂים 2.c and compare 24:6 where the phrase “for good” is added.

[39:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Don’t do anything evil [= harmful] to him.”