Yeremia 17:18

17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.

Do not let me be disgraced.

May they be dismayed.

Do not let me be dismayed.

Bring days of disaster on them.

Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹ 

Yeremia 19:6

19:6 So I, the Lord, say: ²  “The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley ³  the Valley of Slaughter!

Yeremia 20:8

20:8 For whenever I prophesy, ⁴  I must cry out, ⁵ 

“Violence and destruction are coming!” ⁶ 

This message from the Lord ⁷  has made me

an object of continual insults and derision.

Yeremia 27:22

27:22 He has said, ‘They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again. ⁸  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ⁹ 

Yeremia 42:21

42:21 This day ¹⁰  I have told you what he said. ¹¹  But you do not want to obey the Lord by doing what he sent me to tell you. ¹² 

Yeremia 52:11

52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ¹³  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

[17:18]  ¹ tn Or “complete destruction.” See the translator’s note on 16:18.

[17:18]  sn Jeremiah now does what he says he has not wanted to do or been hasty to do. He is, however, seeking his own vindication and that of God whose threats they have belittled.

[19:6]  ² tn This phrase (Heb “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24; 18:6.

[19:6]  ³ tn Heb “it will no longer be called to this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom but the Valley of Slaughter.”

[19:6]  sn See Jer 7:31-32 for an almost word for word repetition of vv. 5-6.

[20:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “speak,” but the speaking is in the context of speaking as a prophet.

[20:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “I cry out, I proclaim.”

[20:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “Violence and destruction.”

[20:8]  sn The words “Violence and destruction…” are a synopsis of his messages of judgment. Jeremiah is lamenting that his ministry up to this point has been one of judgment and has brought him nothing but ridicule because the Lord has not carried out his threats. He appears in the eyes of the people to be a false prophet.

[20:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “the word of the Lord.” For the use of כִּי…כִּי (ki…ki) here in the sense of “for…and” see KBL 432 s.v. כּי 10.

[27:22]  ⁸ tn This verb is a little difficult to render here. The word is used in the sense of taking note of something and acting according to what is noticed. It is the word that has been translated several times throughout Jeremiah as “punish [someone].” It is also used in the opposite of sense of taking note and “show consideration for” (or “care for;” see, e.g., Ruth 1:6). Here the nuance is positive and is further clarified by the actions that follow, bringing them back and restoring them.

[27:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[42:21]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Today.”

[42:21]  ¹¹ tn The words “what he said” are not in the text but are implicit and seem necessary for clarity.

[42:21]  ¹² tn Heb “But you have not hearkened to the voice of [idiomatic for “obeyed” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Qal.1.m] the Lord your God, namely [cf. BDB 252 s.v. וְ 1.b] with respect [cf. BDB 514 s.v. לְ 5.f(c)] all which he has sent to us.” The verb is translated “don’t seem to want to obey” because they have not yet expressed their refusal or their actual disobedience. Several commentaries sensing this apparent discrepancy suggest that 42:19-22 are to be transposed after 43:1-3 (see, e.g., BHS note 18a, W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:275; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 252, 256, 258). However, there is absolutely no textual evidence for the transposition and little reason to suspect an early scribal error (in spite of Holladay’s suggestion). It is possible that Jeremiah here anticipates this answer in 43:1-3 through the response on their faces (so Bright, 256; F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 361). G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 249) also call attention to the stated intention in 41:17 and the fact that the strong warning in 42:15-17 seems to imply that a negative response is expected). The use of the perfect here is perhaps to be related to the perfect expressing resolve or determination (see IBHS 489 §30.5.1d). It is also conceivable that these two verses are part of a conditional sentence which has no formal introduction. I.e., “And if you will not obey…then you should know for certain that…” For examples of this kind of conditional clause introduced by two vavs (ו) see Joüon 2:628-29 §167.b, and compare Jer 18:4; Judg 6:13. However, though this interpretation is within the possibilities of Hebrew grammar, I know of no translation or commentary that follows it. So it has not been followed in the translation or given as an alternate translation.

[52:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.