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 4:10

4:10 In response to all this ³  I said, “Ah, Lord God, ⁴  you have surely allowed ⁵  the people of Judah and Jerusalem ⁶  to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ ⁷  But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” ⁸ 

Yeremia 32:25

32:25 The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. ⁹  Yet, in spite of this, ¹⁰  you, Lord God, ¹¹  have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’” ¹² 

Yeremia 49:5

49:5 I will bring terror on you from every side,”

says the Lord God who rules over all. ¹³ 

“You will be scattered in every direction. ¹⁴ 

No one will gather the fugitives back together.

Yeremia 50:25

50:25 I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. ¹⁵ 

I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. ¹⁶ 

For I, the Lord God who rules over all, ¹⁷ 

have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. ¹⁸ 

[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.

[4:10]  ³ tn The words “In response to all this” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the connection.

[4:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Or “You have deceived.” The Hiphil of נָשָׁא (nasha’, “to deceive”) is understood in a tolerative sense here: “to allow [someone] to be deceived.” IBHS 446 §27.5c notes that this function of the hiphil describes caused activity that is welcome to the undersubject, but unacceptable or disagreeable to a third party. Jerusalem and Judah welcomed the assurances of false prophets who deceived them. Although this was detestable to God, he allowed it.

[4:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’”; or “You have deceived the people of Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace.’” The words “you will be safe” are, of course, those of the false prophets (cf., Jer 6:14; 8:11; 14:13; 23:16-17). It is difficult to tell whether the charge here is meant literally as the emotional outburst of the prophet (compare for example, Jer 15:18) or whether it is to be understood as a figure of speech in which a verb of direct causation is to be understood as permissive or tolerative, i.e., God did not command the prophets to say this but allowed them to do so. While it is not beyond God to use false prophets to accomplish his will (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 22:19-23), he elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah directly denies having sent the false prophets to say such things as this (cf., e.g., Jer 14:14-15; 23:21, 32). For examples of the use of this figure of speech, see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 571, 823 and compare Ezek 20:25. The translation given attempts to resolve the issue.

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “touches the throat/soul.” For this use of the word usually translated “soul” or “life” cf. HALOT 672 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 1, 2 and compare the use in Ps 105:18.

[32:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And you, Lord Yahweh, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for…’ even though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians.” The sentence has been broken up and the order reversed for English stylistic purposes. For the rendering “is sure to fall into the hands of” see the translator’s note on the preceding verse.

[32:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Lord God.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 1:6.

[32:25]  ¹² tn Heb “call in witnesses to witness.”

[49:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Lord Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of the rendering here and of the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[49:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “You will be scattered each man [straight] before him.”

[50:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I have opened up my armory.”

[50:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “The Lord has opened up his armory and has brought out the weapons of his wrath.” The problem of the Lord referring to himself in the third person (or of the prophet speaking on his behalf) is again raised here and is again resolved by using the first person throughout. The construction “weapons of my wrath” would not convey any meaning to many readers so the significance has been spelled out in the translation.

[50:25]  sn The weapons are the nations which God is bringing from the north against them. Reference has already been made in the study notes that Assyria is the “rod” or “war club” by which God vents his anger against Israel (Isa 10:5-6) and Babylon a hammer or war club with which he shatters the nations (Jer 50:23; 51:20). Now God will use other nations as weapons to execute his wrath against Babylon. For a similar idea see Isa 13:2-5 where reference is made to marshaling the nations against Babylon. Some of the nations that the Lord will marshal against Babylon are named in Jer 51:27-28.

[50:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of this rendering and the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[50:25]  ¹⁸ tn The words “of Babylonia” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[50:25]  sn The verbs in vv. 22-25 are all descriptive of the present but, all of this is really to take place in the future. Hebrew poetry has a way of rendering future actions as though they were already accomplished. The poetry of this section makes it difficult, however, to render the verbs as future as the present translation has regularly done.