Yeremia 4:3

4:3 Yes, ¹  the Lord has this to say

to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,

you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;

just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,

you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives. ² 

Yeremia 4:5

Warning of Coming Judgment

4:5 The Lord said, ³ 

“Announce ⁴  this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem: ⁵ 

‘Sound the trumpet ⁶  throughout the land!’

Shout out loudly,

‘Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!’

Yeremia 4:10

4:10 In response to all this ⁷  I said, “Ah, Lord God, ⁸  you have surely allowed ⁹  the people of Judah and Jerusalem ¹⁰  to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ ¹¹  But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” ¹² 

Yeremia 4:16

4:16 They are saying, ¹³ 

‘Announce to the surrounding nations, ¹⁴ 

“The enemy is coming!” ¹⁵ 

Proclaim this message ¹⁶  to Jerusalem:

“Those who besiege cities ¹⁷  are coming from a distant land.

They are ready to raise the battle cry against ¹⁸  the towns in Judah.”’

Yeremia 6:6

6:6 All of this is because ¹⁹  the Lord who rules over all ²⁰  has said:

‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem

and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ²¹ 

This is the city which is to be punished. ²² 

Nothing but oppression happens in it. ²³ 

Yeremia 6:8

6:8 So ²⁴  take warning, Jerusalem,

or I will abandon you in disgust ²⁵ 

and make you desolate,

a place where no one can live.”

Yeremia 7:34

7:34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

Yeremia 11:6

11:6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ²⁶  and carry them out!

Yeremia 13:8

13:8 Then the Lord said to me, ²⁷ 

Yeremia 15:4-5

15:4 I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” ²⁸ 

15:5 The Lord cried out, ²⁹ 

“Who in the world ³⁰  will have pity on you, Jerusalem?

Who will grieve over you?

Who will stop long enough ³¹ 

to inquire about how you are doing? ³² 

Yeremia 17:19-21

Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future ³³ 

17:19 The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate ³⁴  through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. ³⁵  17:20 As you stand in those places ³⁶  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ³⁷  17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ³⁸  Do not carry any loads ³⁹  in through ⁴⁰  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

Yeremia 25:18

25:18 I made Jerusalem ⁴¹  and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. ⁴²  I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object ⁴³  of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. ⁴⁴  Such is already becoming the case! ⁴⁵ 

Yeremia 27:3

27:3 Use it to send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, ⁴⁶  and Sidon. ⁴⁷  Send them through ⁴⁸  the envoys who have come to Jerusalem ⁴⁹  to King Zedekiah of Judah.

Yeremia 34:1

The Lord Makes an Ominous Promise to Zedekiah

34:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem ⁵⁰  and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion. ⁵¹ 

Yeremia 44:6

44:6 So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.’

Yeremia 44:9

44:9 Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ⁵²  wives, by you and your wives?

Yeremia 44:13

44:13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem.

Yeremia 51:50

51:50 You who have escaped the sword, ⁵³ 

go, do not delay. ⁵⁴ 

Remember the Lord in a faraway land.

Think about Jerusalem. ⁵⁵ 

Yeremia 52:1

The Fall of Jerusalem

52:1 ⁵⁶ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem ⁵⁷  for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal ⁵⁸  daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

Yeremia 52:3

52:3 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. ⁵⁹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Yeremia 52:12

52:12 On the tenth ⁶⁰  day of the fifth month, ⁶¹  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ⁶²  who served ⁶³  the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

[4:3]  ¹ tn The Hebrew particle is obviously asseverative here since a causal connection appears to make little sense.

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “Plow up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns.” The translation is an attempt to bring out the force of a metaphor. The idea seems to be that they are to plow over the thorns and make the ground ready for the seeds which will produce a new crop where none had been produced before.

[4:5]  ³ tn The words “The Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from v. 6 and v. 9 that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ⁴ tn It is unclear who the addressees of the masculine plural imperatives are here. They may be the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah who are sounding the alarm to others. However, the first person reference to the Lord in v. 6 and Jeremiah’s response in v. 10 suggest that this is a word from the Lord that he is commanded to pass on to the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah. If the imperatives are not merely rhetorical plurals they may reflect the practice referred to in Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7. A similar phenomenon also occurs in Jer 5:1 and also in Isa 40:1-2. This may also be the explanation for the plural imperatives in Jer 31:6. For further discussion see the translator’s note on Jer 5:1.

[4:5]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:10]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:10]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[4:16]  ¹³ tn The words “They are saying” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:16]  ¹⁴ tn The word “surrounding” is not in the text but is implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:16]  ¹⁵ tc Or “Here they come!” Heb “Look!” or “Behold!” Or “Announce to the surrounding nations, indeed [or yes] proclaim to Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers…’” The text is very elliptical here. Some of the modern English versions appear to be emending the text from הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) to either הֵנָּה (hennah, “these things”; so NEB), or הַזֶּה (hazzeh, “this”; so NIV). The solution proposed here is as old as the LXX which reads, “Behold, they have come.”

[4:16]  ¹⁶ tn The words, “this message,” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to make the introduction of the quote easier.

[4:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Besiegers.” For the use of this verb to refer to besieging a city compare Isa 1:8.

[4:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “They have raised their voices against.” The verb here, a vav (ו) consecutive with an imperfect, continues the nuance of the preceding participle “are coming.”

[6:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For.” The translation attempts to make the connection clearer.

[6:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:6]  sn For an explanation of the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[6:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “Cut down its trees and build up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.” The referent has been moved forward from the second line for clarity.

[6:6]  ²² tn Or “must be punished.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The LXX reads, “Woe, city of falsehood!” The MT presents two anomalies: a masculine singular verb with a feminine singular subject in a verbal stem (Hophal) that elsewhere does not have the meaning “is to be punished.” Hence many follow the Greek which presupposes הוֹי עִיר הַשֶּׁקֶר (hoy ’ir hasheqer) instead of הִיא הָעִיר הָפְקַד (hi’ ha’ir hofqad). The Greek is the easier reading in light of the parallelism, and it would be hard to explain how the MT arose from it. KBL suggests reading a noun meaning “licentiousness” which occurs elsewhere only in Mishnaic Hebrew, hence “this is the city, the licentious one” (attributive apposition; cf. KBL 775 s.v. פֶּקֶר). Perhaps the Hophal perfect (הָפְקַד, hofÿqad) should be revocalized as a Niphal infinitive absolute (הִפָּקֹד, hippaqod); this would solve both anomalies in the MT since the Niphal is used in this nuance and the infinitive absolute can function in place of a finite verb (cf. GKC 346 §113.ee and ff). This, however, is mere speculation and is supported by no Hebrew ms.

[6:6]  ²³ tn Heb “All of it oppression in its midst.”

[6:8]  ²⁴ tn This word is not in the text but is supplied in the translation. Jeremiah uses a figure of speech (enallage) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to address him/her directly.

[6:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lest my soul [= I] becomes disgusted with you.”

[6:8]  sn The wordplay begun with “sound…in Tekoa” in v. 1 and continued with “they will pitch” in v. 3 is concluded here with “turn away” (וּבִתְקוֹעַ תִּקְעוּ [uvitqoa’ tiq’u] in v. 1, תָּקְעוּ [taq’u] in v. 3 and תֵּקַע [teqa’] here).

[11:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the terms of this covenant.” However, this was a separate message and the ambiguity of “this” could still cause some confusion.

[13:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying.”

[15:4]  ²⁸ tn The length of this sentence runs contrary to the normal policy followed in the translation of breaking up long sentences. However, there does not seem any way to break it up here without losing the connections.

[15:4]  sn For similar statements see 2 Kgs 23:26; 24:3-4 and for a description of what Manasseh did see 2 Kgs 21:1-16. Manasseh was the leader, but they willingly followed (cf. 2 Kgs 21:9).

[15:5]  ²⁹ tn The words “The Lord cried out” are not in the text. However, they are necessary to show the shift in address between speaking to Jeremiah in vv. 1-4 about the people and addressing Jerusalem in vv. 5-6 and the shift back to the address to Jeremiah in vv. 7-9. The words “oracle of the Lord” are, moreover, found at the beginning of v. 6.

[15:5]  ³⁰ tn The words, “in the world” are not in the text but are the translator’s way of trying to indicate that this rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[15:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “turn aside.”

[15:5]  ³² tn Or “about your well-being”; Heb “about your welfare” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom).

[17:19]  ³³ sn Observance of the Sabbath day (and the Sabbatical year) appears to have been a litmus test of the nation’s spirituality since it is mentioned in a number of passages besides this one (cf., e.g., Isa 56:2, 6; 58:13; Neh 13:15-18). Perhaps this is because the Sabbath day was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exod 31:13-17) just as the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic covenant (Gen 9:12, 13, 17) and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 17:11). This was not the only command they failed to obey, nor was their failure to obey this one the sole determining factor in the Lord’s decision to destroy Judah (cf. 7:23- 24; 11:7-8 in their contexts).

[17:19]  ³⁴ sn The identity and location of the People’s Gate is uncertain since it is mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Some identify it with the Benjamin Gate mentioned in Jer 37:13; 38:7 (cf. NAB), but there is no textual support for this in the Hebrew Bible or in any of the ancient versions.

[17:19]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:20]  ³⁶ tn The words “As you stand there” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[17:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah…Jerusalem who enter through these gates.” This sentence has been restructured to avoid a long complex English sentence and to put “Listen to what the Lord says” closer to the content of what he says.

[17:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Be careful at the risk of your lives.” The expression with the preposition בְּ (bet) is unique. Elsewhere the verb “be careful” is used with the preposition לְ (lamed) in the sense of the reflexive. Hence the word “soul” cannot be simply reflexive here. BDB 1037 s.v. שָׁמַר Niph.1 understands this as a case where the preposition בְּ introduces the cost or price (cf. BDB 90 s.v. בּ III.3.a).

[17:21]  ³⁹ sn Comparison with Neh 13:15-18 suggests that these loads were merchandise or agricultural produce which were being brought in for sale. The loads that were carried out of the houses in the next verse were probably goods for barter.

[17:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “Be careful…by carrying”). This is supported by the next line where only “carry out” of the houses is mentioned.

[25:18]  ⁴¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:18]  ⁴² tn The words “I made” and “drink it” are not in the text. The text from v. 18 to v. 26 contains a list of the nations that Jeremiah “made drink it.” The words are supplied in the translation here and at the beginning of v. 19 for the sake of clarity. See also the note on v. 26.

[25:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “in order to make them a ruin, an object of…” The sentence is broken up and the antecedents are made specific for the sake of clarity and English style.

[25:18]  ⁴⁴ tn See the study note on 24:9 for explanation.

[25:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “as it is today.” This phrase would obviously be more appropriate after all these things had happened as is the case in 44:6, 23 where the verbs referring to these conditions are past. Some see this phrase as a marginal gloss added after the tragedies of 597 b.c. or 586 b.c. However, it may refer here to the beginning stages where Judah has already suffered the loss of Josiah, of its freedom, of some of its temple treasures, and of some of its leaders (Dan 1:1-3. The different date for Jehoiakim there is due to the different method of counting the king’s first year; the third year there is the same as the fourth year in 25:1).

[27:3]  ⁴⁶ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[27:3]  ⁴⁷ sn The nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon were east of Judah. They were sometimes allies and sometimes enemies. The nations of Tyre and Sidon were on the sea coast north and west of Judah. They are best known for their maritime trade during the reign of Solomon. They were more commonly allies of Israel and Judah than enemies.

[27:3]  map For the location of Sidon see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[27:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “send by means of them” [i.e., the straps and crossbars made into a yoke] to…through.” The text is broken up in conformity with contemporary English style. Many English versions ignore the suffix on the end of “send” and find some support for this on the basis of its absence in the Lucianic Greek text. However, it is probably functioning metonymically here for the message which they see symbolized before them and is now explained clearly to them.

[27:3]  ⁴⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[34:1]  ⁵⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[34:1]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord while Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its towns, saying.” The sentence is obviously too long and the qualifiers obviously too ill-defined to translate literally. This same introductory formula has occurred in 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 30:1; 32:1 but without such a long introductory phrase. It is generally agreed that the phrase “all the peoples” should be seen as a parallel term to “all the kingdoms” under the qualifying “under the dominion of his hand/ control” and what is referred to are contingent forces supplied by these vassal kingdoms and peoples under the terms of their vassal treaties with Nebuchadnezzar. Some of the nature of the make-up of these forces may be seen from a reference to Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders in the earlier attacks on Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 24:2).

[34:1]  sn It is difficult to assign dates to passages which have no dating formulas but there is sufficient detail in this passage to show that this incident occurred sometime early in the siege of Jerusalem while Jeremiah was still free to come and go (see v. 2 and compare 37:4 and see the second study note on 32:2). The Babylonian forces blockaded Jerusalem and attacked the outlying cities, reducing them one by one until Jerusalem had no further help. According to v. 7 Azekah and Lachish in the western foothills still held out and there is evidence from some of the correspondence from Lachish at this period that help was being sought from Egypt.

[44:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “his.” This should not be viewed as a textual error but as a distributive singular use of the suffix, i.e., the wives of each of the kings of Judah (cf. GKC 464 §145.l and compare the usage in Isa 2:8; Hos 4:8).

[51:50]  ⁵³ sn God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45).

[51:50]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “don’t stand.”

[51:50]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.

[51:50]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[52:1]  ⁵⁶ sn This final chapter does not mention Jeremiah, but its description of the downfall of Jerusalem and exile of the people validates the prophet’s ministry.

[52:1]  ⁵⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[52:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Some textual witnesses support the Kethib (consonantal text) in reading “Hamital.”

[52:3]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “Surely (or “for”) because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he drove them out from upon his face.” For the phrase “drive out of his sight,” see 7:15.

[52:12]  ⁶⁰ tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”

[52:12]  ⁶¹ sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

[52:12]  ⁶² tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

[52:12]  ⁶³ tn Heb “stood before.”