Yeremia 1:1

The Superscription

1:1 The following is a record of what Jeremiah son of Hilkiah prophesied. ¹  He was one of the priests who lived at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

Yeremia 23:37

23:37 Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’ ² 

Yeremia 49:35

49:35 The Lord who rules over all said,

“I will kill all the archers of Elam,

who are the chief source of her military might. ³ 

Yeremia 50:10

50:10 Babylonia ⁴  will be plundered.

Those who plunder it will take all they want,”

says the Lord. ⁵ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Or “This is a record of what Jeremiah prophesied and did”; Heb “The words [or affairs] of Jeremiah.” The phrase could refer to either the messages of Jeremiah recorded in the book or to both his messages and the biographical (and autobiographical) narratives recorded about him in the book. Since the phrase is intended to serve as the title or superscription for the whole book and recurs again in 51:64 at the end of the book before the final appendix, it might refer to the latter. The expression “The words of [someone]” is a standard introductory formula (Deut 29:1[28:69]; 2 Sam 23:1; Amos 1:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).

[23:37]  ² tn See the note on v. 35.

[23:37]  sn As noted in v. 35 the prophet is Jeremiah. The message is directed against the prophet, priest, or common people who have characterized his message as a “burden from the Lord.”

[49:35]  ³ tn Heb “I will break the bow of Elam, the chief source of their might.” The phrase does not mean that God will break literal bows or that he will destroy their weapons (synecdoche of species for genus) or their military power (so Hos 1:5). Because of the parallelism, the “bow” here stands for the archers who wield the bow, and were the strongest force (or chief contingent) in their military.

[50:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “The land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”