Yeremia 48:6

48:6 They will hear, ‘Run! Save yourselves!

Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!’ ¹ 

Yeremia 39:18

39:18 I will certainly save you. You will not fall victim to violence. ²  You will escape with your life ³  because you trust in me. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’” ⁴ 

Yeremia 41:15

41:15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah managed to escape from Johanan along with eight of his men, and he went on over to Ammon.

Yeremia 48:19

48:19 You who live in Aroer, ⁵ 

stand by the road and watch.

Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping.

Ask them, ‘What has happened?’

Yeremia 51:45

51:45 “Get out of Babylon, my people!

Flee to save your lives

from the fierce anger of the Lord! ⁶ 

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 ⁷  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ⁸ 

Yeremia 46:6

46:6 But even the swiftest cannot get away.

Even the strongest cannot escape. ⁹ 

There in the north by the Euphrates River

they stumble and fall in defeat. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 48:8

48:8 The destroyer will come against every town.

Not one town will escape.

The towns in the valley will be destroyed.

The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. ¹¹ 

I, the Lord, have spoken! ¹² 

Yeremia 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ¹³ 

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 ¹⁴  back for what she has done. ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 32:4

32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ¹⁶  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 34:3

34:3 You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. ¹⁸  Then you must go to Babylon.

Yeremia 38:23

38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. ¹⁹  You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the ²⁰  king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” ²¹ 

[48:6]  ¹ tc The meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation follows one reading of the Hebrew text. The Greek version reads “Be like a wild donkey in the desert!” There are three points of debate in this line: the syntax of the verb form “be” (תִהְיֶינָה, tihyenah) and the text and meaning of the word translated “shrub” in the Hebrew text. This word only occurs with this meaning here and in Jer 17:6. A related word occurs in Ps 102:17 (102:18 HT). Elsewhere this spelling refers to the place name Aroer which was a place in Moab on the edge of the Arnon River. Most commentators do not feel that a reference to that place is appropriate here because it was not in the desert. The Greek version reads “like a wild donkey” (reading כְּעָרוֹד [kÿ’arod] in place of כַּעֲרוֹעֵר [ka’aro’er]). That would make an appropriate simile here because the wild donkey enjoys its freedom and is hard to capture. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 312) explain the simile of the “shrub” as referring to the marginal and rudimentary existence of a displaced person. That may not be as optimistic as the reference to the wild donkey but it does give an appropriate meaning. The third feminine plural has been explained as the singular noun + suffix = “yourselves” (נַפְשְׁכֶם, nafshÿkhem) used as a collective (so S. R. Driver, Jeremiah, 368, with cross reference to GKC 462-63 §145.c). J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 314, n. e-e) follows a suggestion of D. N. Freedman in seeing the form (תִהְיֶינָה, tihyenah) as a mistake for the 2nd masculine plural plus energic (תִהְיוּן, tihyun). Given the number of other textual corruptions in this passage, this is possible. The resultant meaning in either case is the same.

[39:18]  ² sn Heb “you will not fall by the sword.” In the context this would include death in battle and execution as a prisoner of war.

[39:18]  ³ tn Heb “your life will be to you for spoil.” For the meaning of this idiom see the study note on 21:9 and compare the usage in 21:9; 38:2; 45:4.

[39:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:19]  ⁵ sn Aroer is probably the Aroer that was located a few miles south and west of Dibon on the edge of the Arnon River. It had earlier been the southern border of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:16). However, this whole territory had earlier been taken over by the Arameans (2 Kgs 10:33), later by the Assyrians, and at this time was in the hands of the Moabites.

[51:45]  ⁶ tn Heb “Go out from her [Babylon’s] midst, my people. Save each man his life from the fierce anger of the Lord.” The verb has been paraphrased to prevent gender specific terms.

[51:45]  sn Compare Jer 50:8-10; 51:6 where the significance of saving oneself from the fierce anger of the Lord is clarified.

[38:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:18]  ⁸ 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).

[46:6]  ⁹ tn The translation assumes that the adjectives with the article are functioning as superlatives in this context (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). It also assumes that אַל (’al) with the jussive is expressing here an emphatic negative rather than a negative wish (cf. GKC 317 §107.p and compare the usage in Ps 50:3).

[46:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they stumble and fall.” However, the verbs here are used of a fatal fall, of a violent death in battle (see BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.2.a), and a literal translation might not be understood by some readers.

[48:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The valley will be destroyed and the tableland be laid waste.” However, in the context this surely refers to the towns and not to the valley and the tableland itself.

[48:8]  sn Most commentaries see a reference to the towns in the Jordan valley referred to in Josh 13:27 and the towns mentioned in Josh 13:15-17 which were on the high tableland or high plateau or plain north of the Arnon. The mention of the towns in the first half of the verse is broader than that because it would include all the towns in the southern half of Moab between the Arnon and Zered as well as those mentioned in the second half in conjunction with the valley and the high plateau north of the Arnon.

[48:8]  ¹² tn Heb “which/for/as the Lord has spoken.” The first person form has again been adopted because the Lord is the speaker throughout (cf. v. 1).

[51:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[32:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his [Zedekiah’s] mouth will speak with his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] mouth and his eyes will see his eyes.” The verbs here are an obligatory imperfect and its vav consecutive perfect equivalent. (See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples of the former and IBHS 528 §32.2.1d, n. 16, for the latter.)

[34:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon and his mouth will speak with your mouth.” For this same idiom in reverse order see 32:4 and consult the translator’s note there for the obligatory nuance given to the verbs.

[34:3]  sn For the fulfillment of this see Jer 52:7-11.

[38:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by [caught in] the hand of the king of Babylon.” Neither use of “hand” is natural to the English idiom.

[38:23]  ²¹ tc This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew mss. The majority of the Hebrew mss read “and you will burn down this city.” This reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and English versions. Few of the commentaries, however, bother to explain the fact that the particle אֶת (’et), which normally marks the accusative object, is functioning here as the subject. For this point of grammar see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 1.b. Or this may be another case where אֵת introduces a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α and see usage in 27:8; 36:22).