Yeremia 5:12

5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. ¹ 

They have said, ‘That is not so! ² 

No harm will come to us.

We will not experience war and famine. ³ 

Yeremia 9:17

9:17 The Lord who rules over all ⁴  told me to say to this people, ⁵ 

“Take note of what I say. ⁶ 

Call for the women who mourn for the dead!

Summon those who are the most skilled at it!” ⁷ 

Yeremia 11:22

11:22 So the Lord who rules over all ⁸  said, “I will surely ⁹  punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. ¹⁰  Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

Yeremia 17:6

17:6 They will be like a shrub ¹¹  in the desert.

They will not experience good things even when they happen.

It will be as though they were growing in the desert,

in a salt land where no one can live.

Yeremia 29:17

29:17 The Lord who rules over all ¹²  says, ‘I will bring war, ¹³  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ¹⁴  they cannot be eaten.

Yeremia 31:36

31:36 The Lord affirms, ¹⁵  “The descendants of Israel will not

cease forever to be a nation in my sight.

That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights

were to cease to operate before me.” ¹⁶ 

Yeremia 33:12

33:12 “I, the Lord who rules over all, say: ¹⁷  ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

[5:12]  ¹ tn Heb “have denied the Lord.” The words “What…says” are implicit in what follows.

[5:12]  ² tn Or “he will do nothing”; Heb “Not he [or it]!”

[5:12]  ³ tn Heb “we will not see the sword and famine.”

[9:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:17]  sn For the significance of this title see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[9:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” However, without some addition it is not clear to whom the command is addressed. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity and to help resolve a rather confusing issue of who is speaking throughout vv. 16-21. As has been evident throughout the translation, the speaker is not always indicated. Sometimes it is not even clear who the speaker is. In general the translation and the notes have reflected the general consensus in identifying who it is. Here, however, there is a good deal of confusion about who is speaking in vv. 18, 20-21. The Greek translation has the Lord speaking throughout with second plural pronouns in vv. 18, 21 and the absence of the first line in v. 22. It would be hard to explain how the MT arose if it were the original text. Critical commentators such as J. Bright, W. Holladay, and W. McKane resolve the issue by dropping out the introductory formula in v. 17 and the first line of v. 22 and assigning the whole lament to Jeremiah. It seems obvious from the first plural pronouns and the content of v. 18 (and probably v. 21 as well) and the fact that the Lord is referred to in other than the first person in v. 20 that he is not the speaker of those verses. I have attempted to resolve the issue by having Jeremiah report the Lord’s command in v. 17 and have the rest of the speech be essentially that of Jeremiah. It should be admitted, however, that the issue is far from resolved. Most English versions simply ignore the problem. The GNB (= TEV) is a rare exception.

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “Consider!”

[9:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “Call for the mourning women that they may come and send for the wise/skilled women that they may come.” The verbs here are masculine plural, addressed to the people.

[11:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:22]  sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[11:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “Behold I will.” For the function of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.

[11:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will die by the sword.” Here “sword” stands contextually for “battle” while “starvation” stands for death by starvation during siege.

[17:6]  ¹¹ tn This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scales. For a picture and more discussion see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 131.

[29:17]  ¹² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[29:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “the sword.”

[29:17]  ¹⁴ tn The meaning of this word is somewhat uncertain. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the noun “horrible thing” (translated “something shocking”) in Jer 5:30; 23:14 and defines it as “horrid, disgusting.” HALOT 1495 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the same noun and define it as “rotten; corrupt.” That nuance is accepted here.

[29:17]  sn Compare Jer 24:8-10 in its context for the figure here.

[31:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:36]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘then the seed of Israel could cease from being a nation before me forever (or more literally, “all the days”).’” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to modern style. The connection has been maintained by reversing the order of condition and consequence and still retaining the condition in the second clause. For the meaning of “cease to operate” for the verb מוּשׁ (mush) compare the usage in Isa 54:10; Ps 55:11 (55:12 HT); Prov 17:13 where what is usually applied to persons or things is applied to abstract things like this (see HALOT 506 s.v. II מוּשׁ Qal for general usage).

[33:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For the explanation for the first person introduction see the translator’s notes on 33:2, 10. Verses 4, 10, 12 introduce three oracles, all under the answer to the Lord’s promise to Jeremiah to show him “great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.”