Yeremia 7:26
Konteks7:26 But your ancestors 1 did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate 2 and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”
Yeremia 2:27
Konteks2:27 They say to a wooden idol, 3 ‘You are my father.’
They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ 4
Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. 5
Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
Yeremia 8:5
Konteks8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem 6
continually turn away from me in apostasy?
They hold fast to their deception. 7
They refuse to turn back to me. 8
Yeremia 32:33
Konteks32:33 They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. 9 I tried over and over again 10 to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. 11
[7:26] 1 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] 2 tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”
[2:27] 4 sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”
[2:27] 5 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”
[8:5] 6 tc The text is quite commonly emended, changing שׁוֹבְבָה הָעָם (shovÿvah ha’am) to שׁוֹבָב הָעָם (shovav ha’am) and omitting יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yÿrushalaim); this is due to the anomaly of a feminine singular verb with a masculine singular subject and the fact that the word “Jerusalem” is absent from one Hebrew
[8:5] map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[8:5] 7 tn Or “to their allegiance to false gods,” or “to their false professions of loyalty”; Heb “to deceit.” Either “to their mistaken beliefs” or “to their allegiance to false gods” would fit the preceding context. The former is more comprehensive than the latter and was chosen for that reason.
[8:5] 8 sn There is a continuing play on the same root word used in the preceding verse. Here the words “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” and “turn back to me” are all forms from the root that was translated “go the wrong way” and “turn around” in v. 4. The intended effect is to contrast Judah’s recalcitrant apostasy with the usual tendency to try and correct one’s mistakes.
[32:33] 9 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.” Compare the same idiom in 2:27.
[32:33] 10 tn For the idiom involved here see the translator’s note on 7:13. The verb that introduces this clause is a Piel infinitive absolute which is functioning in place of the finite verb (see, e.g., GKC 346 §113.ff and compare usage in Jer 8:15; 14:19. This grammatical point means that the versions cited in BHS fn a may not be reading a different text after all, but may merely be interpreting the form as syntactically equivalent to a finite verb as the present translation has done.).
[32:33] sn This refers to God teaching them through the prophets whom he has sent as indicated by the repeated use of this idiom elsewhere in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5, 19.
[32:33] 11 tn Heb “But they were not listening so as to accept correction.”
