Yeremia 13:26

13:26 So I will pull your skirt up over your face

and expose you to shame like a disgraced adulteress! ¹ 

Yeremia 18:20

18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?

Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ² 

Just remember how I stood before you

pleading on their behalf ³ 

to keep you from venting your anger on them. ⁴ 

Yeremia 32:40

32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ⁵  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ⁶  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ⁷  they will never again turn ⁸  away from me.

[13:26]  ¹ tn Heb “over your face and your shame will be seen.” The words “like a disgraced adulteress” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to explain the metaphor. See the notes on 13:22.

[18:20]  ² tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.

[18:20]  ³ tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.

[18:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”

[18:20]  sn See Jer 14:7-9, 19-21 and 15:1-4 for the idea.

[32:40]  ⁵ tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.

[32:40]  sn For other references to the lasting (or everlasting) nature of the new covenant see Isa 55:3; 61:8; Jer 50:5; Ezek 16:60; 37:26. The new covenant appears to be similar to the ancient Near Eastern covenants of grants whereby a great king gave a loyal vassal a grant of land or dynastic dominion over a realm in perpetuity in recognition of past loyalty. The right to such was perpetual as long as the great king exercised dominion, but the actual enjoyment could be forfeited by individual members of the vassal’s dynasty. The best example of such an covenant in the OT is the Davidic covenant where the dynasty was given perpetual right to rule over Israel. Individual kings might be disciplined and their right to enjoy dominion taken away, but the dynasty still maintained the right to rule (see 2 Sam 23:5; Ps 89:26-37 and note especially 1 Kgs 11:23-39). The new covenant appears to be the renewal of God’s promise to Abraham to always be the God of his descendants and for his descendants to be his special people (Gen 17:7) something they appear to have forfeited by their disobedience (see Hos 1:9). However, under the new covenant he promises to never stop doing them good and grants them a new heart, a new spirit, the infusion of his own spirit, and the love and reverence necessary to keep from turning away from him. The new covenant is not based on their past loyalty but on his gracious forgiveness and his gifts.

[32:40]  ⁶ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ⁷ tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.

[32:40]  ⁸ tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.