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 ¹  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Yeremia 11:12

11:12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will ²  go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means ³  be able to save them when disaster strikes them.

Yeremia 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ⁴  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ⁵  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ⁶ 

Yeremia 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ⁷ 

will prove to be like pampered, ⁸  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ⁹  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

Yeremia 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ¹⁰ 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ¹¹  back for what she has done. ¹² 

[2:28]  ¹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[11:12]  ² tn Heb “Then the towns of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will…”

[11:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic involving the use of an infinitive of the verb before the verb itself (Heb “saving they will not save”). For this construction to give emphasis to an antithesis, cf. GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:7]  ⁴ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  sn See Jer 25:12-14, 16.

[27:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[46:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

[46:21]  ⁸ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

[46:21]  ⁹ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.

[51:6]  ¹⁰ tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

[51:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ¹² tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”