Yeremia 4:10

4:10 In response to all this ¹  I said, “Ah, Lord God, ²  you have surely allowed ³  the people of Judah and Jerusalem ⁴  to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ ⁵  But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” ⁶ 

Yeremia 5:12

5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. ⁷ 

They have said, ‘That is not so! ⁸ 

No harm will come to us.

We will not experience war and famine. ⁹ 

Yeremia 14:13

14:13 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, ¹⁰  look! ¹¹  The prophets are telling them that you said, ¹²  ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine. ¹³  I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’” ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 23:17

23:17 They continually say ¹⁵  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ¹⁶ 

‘Things will go well for you!’ ¹⁷ 

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Yeremia 28:3

28:3 Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.

[4:10]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “have denied the Lord.” The words “What…says” are implicit in what follows.

[5:12]  ⁸ tn Or “he will do nothing”; Heb “Not he [or it]!”

[5:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “we will not see the sword and famine.”

[14:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.

[14:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Behold.” See the translator’s note on usage of this particle in 1:6.

[14:13]  ¹² tn The words “that you said” are not in the text but are implicit from the first person in the affirmation that follows. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “You will not see sword and you will not have starvation [or hunger].”

[14:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will give you unfailing peace in this place.” The translation opts for “peace and prosperity” here for the word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) because in the context it refers both to peace from war and security from famine and plague. The word translated “lasting” (אֱמֶת, ’emet) is a difficult to render here because it has broad uses: “truth, reliability, stability, steadfastness,” etc. “Guaranteed” or “lasting” seem to fit the context the best.

[23:17]  ¹⁵ tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).

[23:17]  ¹⁶ tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context which speaks of “visions of their own imaginations not of what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context which denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [mÿna’atsay dibber yÿhvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (mÿna’atsey dÿvar yÿhvah).

[23:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.