Yeremia 2:9

The Lord Charges Contemporary Israel with Spiritual Adultery

2:9 “So, once more I will state my case ¹  against you,” says the Lord.

“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. ² 

Yeremia 2:33

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ³ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ⁴ 

Yeremia 17:23

17:23 Your ancestors, ⁵  however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused ⁶  to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’

Yeremia 21:11

Warnings to the Royal Court

21:11 The Lord told me to say ⁷  to the royal court ⁸  of Judah,

“Listen to what the Lord says,

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. ⁹ 

Yeremia 25:4

25:4 Over and over again ¹⁰  the Lord has sent ¹¹  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ¹² 

Yeremia 26:24

26:24 However, Ahikam son of Shaphan ¹³  used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people. ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 32:7

32:7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. He will say to you, “Buy my field at Anathoth because you are entitled ¹⁵  as my closest relative to buy it.”’ ¹⁶ 

Yeremia 40:14

40:14 They said to him, “Are you at all aware ¹⁷  that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.

Yeremia 50:8

50:8 “People of Judah, ¹⁸  get out of Babylon quickly!

Leave the land of Babylonia! ¹⁹ 

Be the first to depart! ²⁰ 

Be like the male goats that lead the herd.

Yeremia 52:27

52:27 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed ²¹  at Riblah in the territory of Hamath.

So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.

[2:9]  ¹ tn Or “bring charges against you.”

[2:9]  sn The language used here is that of the law court. In international political contexts it was the language of a great king charging his subject with breach of covenant. See for examples in earlier prophets, Isa 1:2-20; Mic 6:1-8.

[2:9]  ² tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.

[2:9]  sn The passage reflects the Hebrew concept of corporate solidarity: The actions of parents had consequences for their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Compare the usage in the ten commandments, Deut 5:10, and note the execution of the children of Dathan and Abiram, Deut 11:6, and of Achan, Josh 7:24-25.

[2:33]  ³ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

[2:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

[17:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “They.” The antecedent is spelled out to avoid any possible confusion.

[17:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”

[21:11]  ⁷ tn The words “The Lord told me to say” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity. This text has been treated in two very different ways depending upon how one views the connection of the words “and to/concerning the household of the King of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord:…’” with the preceding and following. Some treat the words that follow as a continuation of Jeremiah’s response to the delegation sent by Zedekiah (cf. vv. 3, 8). Others treat this as introducing a new set of oracles parallel to those in 23:9-40 which are introduced by the heading “to/concerning the prophets.” There are three reasons why this is the more probable connection: (1) the parallelism in expression with 23:9; (2) the other introductions in vv. 3, 8 use the preposition אֶל (’el) instead of לְ (lÿ) used here, and they have the formal introduction “you shall say…”; (3) the warning or challenge here would mitigate the judgment pronounced on the king and the city in vv. 4-7. Verses 8-9 are different. They are not a mitigation but an offer of escape for those who surrender. Hence, these words are a title “Now concerning the royal court.” (The vav [ו] that introduces this is disjunctive = “Now.”) However, since the imperative that follows is masculine plural and addressed to the royal house, something needs to be added to introduce it. Hence the translation supplies “The Lord told me to say” to avoid confusion or mistakenly connecting it with the preceding.

[21:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “house” or “household.” It is clear from 22:1-6 that this involved the King, the royal family, and the court officials.

[22:17]  ⁹ 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.

[25:4]  ¹⁰ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ¹¹ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ¹² tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

[26:24]  ¹³ sn Ahikam son of Shaphan was an official during the reign of Jehoiakim’s father, Josiah (2 Kgs 22:12, 14). He was also the father of Gedaliah who became governor of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem (Jer 40:5). The particle at the beginning of the verse is meant to contrast the actions of this man with the actions of Jehoiakim. The impression created by this verse is that it took more than just the royal officials’ opinion and the elders’ warnings to keep the priests and prophets from swaying popular opinion to put Jeremiah to death.

[26:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he would not be given (even more literally, ‘so as not to give him’) into the hand of the people to kill him.” “Hand” is often used for “aid,” “support,” “influence,” “power,” “control.”

[32:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your right.” The term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here and in v. 8 refers to legal entitlement for the option to purchase a property (BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 5; cf. Deut 21:17).

[32:7]  ¹⁶ sn Underlying this request are the laws of redemption of property spelled out in Lev 25:25-34 and illustrated in Ruth 4:3-4. Under these laws, if a property owner became impoverished and had to sell his land, the nearest male relative had the right and duty to buy it so that it would not pass out of the use of the extended family. The land, however, would not actually belong to Jeremiah because in the year of Jubilee it reverted to its original owner. All Jeremiah was actually buying was the right to use it (Lev 25:13-17). Buying the field, thus, did not make any sense (thus Jeremiah’s complaint in v. 25) other than the fact that the Lord intended to use Jeremiah’s act as a symbol of a restored future in the land.

[40:14]  ¹⁷ tn The translation is intended to reflect the emphasizing infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[50:8]  ¹⁸ tn The words “People of Judah” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the subject of the address.

[50:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:8]  ²⁰ tn The words “Be the first to leave” are not in the text but spell out the significance of the simile that follows. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[52:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”