Yeremia 7:25-26

7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, ¹  I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, ²  day after day. ³  7:26 But your ancestors ⁴  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ⁵  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Yeremia 25:4-5

25:4 Over and over again ⁶  the Lord has sent ⁷  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ⁸  25:5 He said through them, ⁹  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ¹⁰  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 26:5

26:5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. ¹²  But you have not paid any attention to them.

Yeremia 44:4-5

44:4 I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over ¹³  again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. ¹⁴  44:5 But the people of Jerusalem and Judah ¹⁵  would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. ¹⁶ 

[7:25]  ¹ tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”

[7:25]  ² tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.

[7:25]  ³ tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).

[7:26]  ⁴ tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”

[25:4]  ⁶ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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).

[25:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[26:5]  ¹² tn See the translator’s note on 7:13 for the idiom here.

[44:4]  ¹³ tn See 7:13 for an explanation of this idiom and compare 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15 for similar references to the persistent warnings of the prophets.

[44:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sent…over again, saying, ‘Do not do this terrible thing that I hate.’” The indirect quote has been used to shorten the sentence and eliminate one level of embedded quotes.

[44:4]  sn This refers to the worship of other gods mentioned in the previous verse.

[44:5]  ¹⁵ tn There appears to be a deliberate shift in the pronouns used in vv. 2-5. “You” refers to the people living in Egypt who are being addressed (v. 2) and to the people of present and past generations to whom the Lord persistently sent the prophets (v. 4). “They” refers to the people of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah who have suffered disaster (v. 2) because of the wickedness of sacrificing to other gods (vv. 3, 5). The referents have been explicitly identified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[44:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “They did not listen or incline their ear [= pay attention] by turning from their wickedness by not sacrificing to other gods.” The לְ (lamed) + the negative + the infinitive is again epexegetical. The sentence has been restructured and more idiomatic English expressions have been used to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to retain the basic relationships of subordination.