Yeremia 2:31

2:31 You people of this generation,

listen to what the Lord says.

“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?

Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹ 

Why then do you ²  say, ‘We are free to wander. ³ 

We will not come to you any more?’

Yeremia 10:7

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ⁴ 

because you deserve to be revered. ⁵ 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ⁶ 

Yeremia 10:25

10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. ⁷ 

Vent it on the peoples ⁸  who do not worship you. ⁹ 

For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. ¹⁰ 

They have completely destroyed them ¹¹ 

and left their homeland in utter ruin.

Yeremia 11:20

11:20 So I said to the Lord, ¹² 

“O Lord who rules over all, ¹³  you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds. ¹⁴ 

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹⁶ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹⁷ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁸ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

[2:31]  ¹ tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.

[2:31]  ² tn Heb “my people.”

[2:31]  ³ tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[10:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “know you.” For this use of the word “know” (יָדַע, yada’) see the note on 9:3.

[10:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “tribes/clans.”

[10:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “who do not call on your name.” The idiom “to call on your name” (directed to God) refers to prayer (mainly) and praise. See 1 Kgs 18:24-26 and Ps 116:13, 17. Here “calling on your name” is parallel to “acknowledging you.” In many locations in the OT “name” is equivalent to the person. In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in a person’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8). To call someone’s name over something was to claim it for one’s own (2 Sam 12:28).

[10:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “have devoured Jacob.”

[10:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “have almost completely destroyed them”; Heb “they have devoured them and consumed them.” The figure of hyperbole is used here; elsewhere Jeremiah and God refer to the fact that they will not be completely consumed. See for example 4:27; 5:10, 18.

[11:20]  ¹² tn The words “So I said to the Lord” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift in address.

[11:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:20]  sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[11:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Lord of armies, just judge, tester of kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style. In Hebrew thought the “kidneys” were thought of as the seat of the emotions and passions and the “heart” was viewed as the seat of intellect, conscience, and will. The “heart” and the “kidneys” are often used figuratively for the thoughts, emotions, motives, and drives that are thought to be seated in them.

[11:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”