Yeremia 2:23

2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.

I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’

Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ² 

Think about the things you have done there!

You are like a flighty, young female camel

that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

Yeremia 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ⁴ 

Sound the trumpet ⁵  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ⁶  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ⁷ 

Yeremia 11:17

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ⁸  planted you in the land, ⁹ 

I now decree that disaster will come on you ¹⁰ 

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ¹¹ 

Yeremia 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ¹²  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ¹³  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ¹⁴  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ¹⁶  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ¹⁷  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹⁸  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹⁹  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Yeremia 20:11

20:11 But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ²⁰ 

Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.

They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.

Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

Yeremia 22:15

22:15 Does it make you any more of a king

that you outstrip everyone else in ²¹  building with cedar?

Just think about your father.

He was content that he had food and drink. ²² 

He did what was just and right. ²³ 

So things went well with him.

Yeremia 23:2

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ²⁴  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ²⁵  I, the Lord, affirm it! ²⁶ 

Yeremia 23:16

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ²⁷  says to the people of Jerusalem: ²⁸ 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ²⁹ 

Yeremia 25:5

25:5 He said through them, ³⁰  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ³¹  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ³² 

Yeremia 32:20

32:20 You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day. ³³ 

Yeremia 33:24

33:24 “You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven’t you? They are saying, ³⁴  ‘The Lord has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah ³⁵  that he chose.’ So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation. ³⁶ 

Yeremia 36:31

36:31 I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ³⁷  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ³⁸  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ³⁹ 

[2:23]  ¹ tn Heb “I have not gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for the meaning and usage of this idiom.

[2:23]  ² tn Heb “Look at your way in the valley.” The valley is an obvious reference to the Valley of Hinnom where Baal and Molech were worshiped and child sacrifice was practiced.

[2:23]  ³ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the Lord’s control.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

[6:1]  sn Compare and contrast Jer 4:6. There people in the outlying areas were warned to seek safety in the fortified city of Jerusalem. Here they are told to flee it because it was about to be destroyed.

[6:1]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

[6:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.

[6:1]  sn This passage is emotionally charged. There are two examples of assonance or wordplay in the verse: “sound” (Heb tiq’u, “blow”), which has the same consonants as “Tekoa” (Heb uvitqoa’), and “signal fire,” which comes from the same root as “light” (Heb sÿ’u mas’et, “lift up”). There is also an example of personification where disaster is said to “lurk” (Heb “look down on”) out of the north. This gives a sense of urgency and concern for the coming destruction.

[11:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:17]  sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[11:17]  ⁹ tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term Lord of armies has been rendered this sentence has been restructured to avoid confusion in English style.

[11:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[18:11]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ¹³ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.

[18:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.

[18:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[20:11]  ²⁰ sn This line has some interesting ties with Jer 15:20-21 where Jeremiah is assured by God that he is indeed with him as he promised him when he called him (1:8, 19) and will deliver him from the clutches of wicked and violent people. The word translated here “awe-inspiring” is the same as the word “violent people” there. Jeremiah is confident that his “awe-inspiring” warrior will overcome “violent people.” The statement of confidence here is, by the way, a common element in the psalms of petition in the Psalter. The common elements of that type of psalm are all here: invocation (v. 7), lament (vv. 7-10), confession of trust/confidence in being heard (v. 11), petition (v. 12), thanksgiving or praise (v. 13). For some examples of this type of psalm see Pss 3, 7, 26.

[22:15]  ²¹ tn For the use of this verb see Jer 12:5 where it is used of Jeremiah “competing” with horses. The form is a rare Tiphel (see GKC 153 §55.h).

[22:15]  ²² tn Heb “Your father, did he not eat and drink and do justice and right.” The copulative vav in front of the verbs here (all Hebrew perfects) shows that these actions are all coordinate not sequential. The contrast drawn here between the actions of Jehoiakim and Josiah show that the phrase eating and drinking should be read in the light of the same contrasts in Eccl 2 which ends with the note of contentment in Eccl 2:24 (see also Eccl 3:13; 5:18 [5:17 HT]; 8:15). The question is, of course, rhetorical setting forth the positive role model against which Jehoiakim’s actions are to be condemned. The key terms here are “then things went well with him” which is repeated in the next verse after the reiteration of Josiah’s practice of justice.

[22:15]  ²³ sn The father referred to here is the godly king Josiah. He followed the requirements for kings set forth in 22:3 in contrast to his son who did not (22:13).

[23:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

[23:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

[23:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:16]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[23:16]  ²⁸ tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

[25:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ³² tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[32:20]  ³³ tn Or “You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt. And you continue to do them until this day both in Israel and among mankind. By this mean you have gained a renown…” The translation here follows the syntactical understanding reflected also in NJPS. The Hebrew text reads: “you did miracles and marvelous acts in the land of Egypt until this day and in Israel and in mankind and you made for yourself a name as this day.” The majority of English versions and commentaries understand the phrases “until this day and in Israel and in mankind” to be an elliptical sentence with the preceding verb and objects supplied as reflected in the alternate translation. However, the emphasis on the miraculous deeds in Egypt in this section both before and after this elliptical phrase and the dominant usage of the terms “signs and wonders” to refer to the plagues and other miraculous signs in Egypt calls this interpretation into question. The key here is understanding “both in Israel and in mankind” as an example of a casus pendens construction (a dangling subject, object, or other modifier) before a conjunction introducing the main clause (cf. GKC 327 §111.h and 458 §143.d and compare the usage in Jer 6:19; 33:24; 1 Kgs 15:13). This verse is the topic sentence which is developed further in v. 21 and initiates a narrative history of the distant past that continues until v. 22b where reference is made to the long history of disobedience which has led to the present crisis.

[33:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Have you not seen what this people have said, saying.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. The sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:24]  ³⁵ tn Heb “The two families which the Lord chose, he has rejected them.” This is an example of an object prepositioned before the verb and resumed by a redundant pronoun to throw emphasis of focus on it (called casus pendens in the grammars; cf. GKC 458 §143.d). Some commentators identify the “two families” as those of David and Levi mentioned in the previous verses, and some identify them as the families of the Israelites and of David mentioned in the next verse. However, the next clause in this verse and the emphasis on the restoration and regathering of Israel and Judah in this section (cf. 33:7, 14) show that the reference is to Israel and Judah (see also 30:3, 4; 31:27, 31 and 3:18).

[33:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and my people [i.e., Israel and Judah] they disdain [or look down on] from being again a nation before them.” The phrase “before them” refers to their estimation, their mental view (cf. BDB s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a[g]). Hence it means they look with disdain on the people being a nation again (cf. BDB s.v. עוֹד 1.a[b] for the usage of עוֹד [’od] here).

[36:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “for their iniquity.”

[36:31]  ³⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:31]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all the disaster which I spoke against them and they did not listen [or obey].”