Yeremia 2:33

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ¹ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

Yeremia 3:3

3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,

and the spring rains have not come.

Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. ³ 

You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

Yeremia 8:11

8:11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people ⁴  have suffered. ⁵ 

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right! ⁶ 

Yeremia 8:22

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ⁷  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ⁸ 

Why then have my dear people ⁹ 

not been restored to health? ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 32:7

32:7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. He will say to you, “Buy my field at Anathoth because you are entitled ¹¹  as my closest relative to buy it.”’ ¹² 

[2:33]  ¹ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

[2:33]  ² tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”

[8:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”

[8:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[8:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  sn This medicinal ointment (Heb “balm”) consisted of the gum or resin from a tree that grows in Egypt and Palestine and was thought to have medicinal value (see also Jer 46:11).

[8:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

[8:22]  sn The prophet means by this metaphor that there are still means available for healing the spiritual ills of his people, mainly repentance, obedience to the law, and sole allegiance to God, and still people available who will apply this medicine to them, namely prophets like himself.

[8:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

[8:22]  sn Jeremiah is lamenting that though there is a remedy available for the recovery of his people they have not availed themselves of it.

[32:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your right.” The term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here and in v. 8 refers to legal entitlement for the option to purchase a property (BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 5; cf. Deut 21:17).

[32:7]  ¹² sn Underlying this request are the laws of redemption of property spelled out in Lev 25:25-34 and illustrated in Ruth 4:3-4. Under these laws, if a property owner became impoverished and had to sell his land, the nearest male relative had the right and duty to buy it so that it would not pass out of the use of the extended family. The land, however, would not actually belong to Jeremiah because in the year of Jubilee it reverted to its original owner. All Jeremiah was actually buying was the right to use it (Lev 25:13-17). Buying the field, thus, did not make any sense (thus Jeremiah’s complaint in v. 25) other than the fact that the Lord intended to use Jeremiah’s act as a symbol of a restored future in the land.