Yeremia 2:7

2:7 I brought you ¹  into a fertile land

so you could enjoy ²  its fruits and its rich bounty.

But when you entered my land, you defiled it; ³ 

you made the land I call my own ⁴  loathsome to me.

Yeremia 3:16

3:16 In those days, your population will greatly increase ⁵  in the land. At that time,” says the Lord, “people will no longer talk about having the ark ⁶  that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. ⁷  They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more! ⁸ 

Yeremia 8:19

8:19 I hear my dear people ⁹  crying out ¹⁰ 

throughout the length and breadth of the land. ¹¹ 

They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?

Is her divine King ¹²  no longer there?’”

The Lord answers, ¹³ 

“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,

with their worthless foreign idols?” ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 11:7-8

11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ¹⁵  I warned them again and again, ¹⁶  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 11:8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 12:14

12:14 “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning ¹⁸  the wicked nations who surround my land ¹⁹  and have attacked and plundered ²⁰  the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession. ²¹  I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there. ²² 

Yeremia 13:12

13:12 “So tell them, ²³  ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.”’ ²⁴  And they will probably say to you, ‘Do you not think we know ²⁵  that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?’

Yeremia 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ²⁶  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ²⁷  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ²⁸ 

Yeremia 16:5

16:5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ²⁹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ³⁰  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ³¹ 

Yeremia 17:13

17:13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. ³² 

All who leave you will suffer shame.

Those who turn away from you ³³  will be consigned to the nether world. ³⁴ 

For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. ³⁵ 

Yeremia 17:24

17:24 The Lord says, ³⁶  ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.

Yeremia 17:27

17:27 But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through ³⁷  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”

Yeremia 19:15

19:15 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ³⁸  says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it ³⁹  all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused ⁴⁰  to pay any attention to what I have said!’”

Yeremia 22:4

22:4 If you are careful to ⁴¹  obey these commands, then the kings who follow in David’s succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to come through the gates of this palace, as will their officials and their subjects. ⁴² 

Yeremia 23:16

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ⁴³  says to the people of Jerusalem: ⁴⁴ 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ⁴⁵ 

Yeremia 27:5

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ⁴⁶  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ⁴⁷ 

Yeremia 29:10

29:10 “For the Lord says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule ⁴⁸  are over will I again take up consideration for you. ⁴⁹  Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore ⁵⁰  you to your homeland. ⁵¹ 

Yeremia 31:9

31:9 They will come back shedding tears of contrition.

I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ⁵² 

I will lead them besides streams of water,

along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ⁵³ 

I will do this because I am Israel’s father;

Ephraim ⁵⁴  is my firstborn son.’”

Yeremia 31:12

31:12 They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion.

They will be radiant with joy ⁵⁵  over the good things the Lord provides,

the grain, the fresh wine, the olive oil,

the young sheep and calves he has given to them.

They will be like a well-watered garden

and will not grow faint or weary any more.

Yeremia 36:2

36:2 “Get a scroll. ⁵⁶  Write on it everything I have told you to say ⁵⁷  about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. ⁵⁸ 

Yeremia 36:31

36:31 I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ⁵⁹  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ⁶⁰  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ⁶¹ 

Yeremia 44:26

44:26 But ⁶²  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ⁶³ 

[2:7]  ¹ sn Note how contemporary Israel is again identified with her early ancestors. See the study note on 2:2.

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “eat.”

[2:7]  ³ sn I.e., made it ceremonially unclean. See Lev 18:19-30; Num 35:34; Deut 21:23.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my inheritance.” Or “the land [i.e., inheritance] I gave you,” reading the pronoun as indicating source rather than possession. The parallelism and the common use in Jeremiah of the term to refer to the land or people as the Lord’s (e.g., 12:7, 8, 9; 16:18; 50:11) make the possessive use more likely here.

[2:7]  sn The land belonged to the Lord; it was given to the Israelites in trust (or usufruct) as their heritage. See Lev 25:23.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will become numerous and fruitful.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Or “chest.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “the ark of the covenant.” It is called this because it contained the tables of the law which in abbreviated form constituted their covenant obligations to the Lord, cf. Exod 31:18; 32:15; 34:29.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Or “Nor will another one be made”; Heb “one will not do/make [it?] again.”

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold the voice of the crying of the daughter of my people.”

[8:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Land of distances, i.e., of wide extent.” For parallel usage cf. Isa 33:17.

[8:19]  ¹² tn Heb “her King” but this might be misunderstood by some to refer to the Davidic ruler even with the capitalization.

[8:19]  ¹³ tn The words, “The Lord would answer” are not in the text but are implicit from the words that follow. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. Another option would be to add “And I can just hear the Lord reply.”

[8:19]  ¹⁴ sn The people’s cry and the Lord’s interruption reflect the same argument that was set forth in the preceding chapter. They have misguided confidence that the Lord is with them regardless of their actions and he responds that their actions have provoked him to the point of judging them. See especially 7:4 and 7:30.

[11:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “warned them…saying, ‘Obey me.’” However, it allows the long sentence to be broken up easier if the indirect quote is used.

[11:7]  ¹⁶ tn For the explanation for this rendering see the note on 7:13.

[11:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “So I brought on them all the terms of this covenant which I commanded to do and they did not do.” There is an interesting polarity that is being exploited by two different nuances implicit in the use of the word “terms” (דִּבְרֵי [divre], literally “words”), i.e., what the Lord “brings on” them, namely, the curses that are the penalty for disobedience and the stipulations that they are “to do,” that is, to carry out. The sentence is broken up this way in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid the long and complicated style of the original.

[12:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord concerning….” This structure has been adopted to prevent a long dangling introduction to what the Lord has to say that does not begin until the middle of the verse in Hebrew. The first person address was adopted because the speaker is still the Lord as in vv. 7-13.

[12:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my wicked neighbors.”

[12:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “touched.” For the nuance of this verb here see BDB 619 s.v. נָגַע Qal.3 and compare the usage in 1 Chr 16:22 where it is parallel to “do harm to” and Zech 2:8 where it is parallel to “plundered.”

[12:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “the inheritance which I caused my people Israel to inherit.” Compare 3:18.

[12:14]  ²² tn Heb “I will uproot the house of Judah from their midst.”

[12:14]  sn There appears to be an interesting play on the Hebrew word translated “uproot” in this verse. In the first instance it refers to “uprooting the nations from upon their lands,” i.e., to exiling them. In the second instance it refers to “uprooting the Judeans from the midst of them,” i.e., to rescue them.

[13:12]  ²³ tn Heb “So you shall say this word [or message] to them.”

[13:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine.”

[13:12]  sn Some scholars understand this as a popular proverb like that in Jer 31:29 and Ezek 18:2. Instead this is probably a truism; the function of wine jars is to be filled with wine. This may relate to the preceding where the Lord has set forth his intention for Israel. It forms the basis for a ironic threat of judgment because they have failed to fulfill his purpose.

[13:12]  ²⁵ tn This is an attempt to render a construction which involves an infinitive of a verb being added before the same verb in a question which expects a positive answer. There may, by the way, be a pun being passed back and forth here involving the sound play been “fool” (נָבָל, naval) and “wine bottle” (נֶבֶל, nebel).

[15:1]  ²⁶ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  sn Moses and Samuel were well-known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel. See Ps 99:6-8 and see, e.g., Exod 32:11-14, 30-34; 1 Sam 7:5-9. The Lord is here rejecting Jeremiah’s intercession on behalf of the people (14:19-22).

[15:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[16:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord…”

[16:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my peace.” The Hebrew word שְׁלוֹמִי (shÿlomi) can be translated “peace, prosperity” or “well-being” (referring to wholeness or health of body and soul).

[16:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[17:13]  ³² tn Heb “O glorious throne, O high place from the beginning, O hope of Israel, O Lord.” Commentators and translators generally understand these four lines (which are three in the Hebrew original) as two predications, one eulogizing the temple and the other eulogizing God. However, that does not fit the context very well and does not take into account the nature of Jeremiah’s doxology in Jeremiah 16:19-20 (and compare also 10:6-7). There the doxology is context motivated, focused on God, and calls on relevant attributes in the form of metaphorical epithets. That fits nicely here as well. For the relevant parallel passages see the study note.

[17:13]  sn As King and Judge seated on his heavenly throne on high the Lord metes out justice. For examples of this motif see Jer 25:30; Ps 11:4; 9:4, 7 (9:5, 8 HT). As the place of sanctuary he offers refuge for those who are fleeing for safety. Ezek 11:16 and Isa 18:1-4 are examples of passages using that motif. Finally, the Lord has been referred to earlier as the object of Israel’s hope (Jer 14:8). All of these are relevant to the choices that the Lord has placed before them, trust or turn away, and the threat that as all-knowing Judge he will reward people according to their behavior.

[17:13]  ³³ tc The translation is based on an emendation suggested in W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:500, n. b-b. The emendation involves following the reading preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere) and understanding the preposition with the following word as a corruption of the suffix on it. Thus the present translation reads וּסוּרֶיךָ אֶרֶץ (usurekha ’erets) instead of וּסוּרַי בָּאֶרֶץ (usuray ba’erets, “and those who leave me will be written in the earth”), a reading which is highly improbable since all the other pronouns are second singular.

[17:13]  ³⁴ tn Or “to the world of the dead.” An alternative interpretation is: “will be as though their names were written in the dust”; Heb “will be written in the dust.” The translation follows the nuance of “earth” listed in HALOT 88 s.v. אֶרֶץ 4 and found in Jonah 2:6 (2:7 HT); Job 10:21-22. For the nuance of “enrolling, registering among the number” for the verb translated here “consign” see BDB 507 s.v. כָּתַב Qal.3 and 508 s.v. Niph.2 and compare usage in Ezek 13:9 and Ps 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[17:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “The fountain of living water.” For an earlier use of this metaphor and the explanation of it see Jer 2:13 and the notes there. There does not appear to be any way to retain this metaphor in the text without explaining it. In the earlier text the context would show that literal water was not involved. Here it might still be assumed that the Lord merely gives life-giving water.

[17:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[17:27]  ³⁷ tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The translation treats the two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “through” in 17:21).

[19:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[19:15]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this title.

[19:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all its towns.”

[19:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”

[22:4]  ⁴¹ tn The translation here reflects the emphasizing infinitive absolute before the verb.

[22:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “There will come through the gates of this city the kings…riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials…” The structure of the original text is broken up here because of the long compound subject which would make the English sentence too long. Compare 17:25 for the structure and wording of this sentence.

[23:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:16]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[23:16]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

[27:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.

[27:5]  ⁴⁷ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.

[29:10]  ⁴⁸ sn See the study note on Jer 25:11 for the reckoning of the seventy years.

[29:10]  ⁴⁹ tn See the translator’s note on Jer 27:22 for this term.

[29:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Verse 10 is all one long sentence in the Hebrew original: “According to the fullness of Babylon seventy years I will take thought of you and I will establish my gracious word to you by bringing you back to this place.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style.

[29:10]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “this place.” The text has probably been influenced by the parallel passage in 27:22. The term appears fifteen times in Jeremiah and is invariably a reference to Jerusalem or Judah.

[29:10]  sn See Jer 27:22 for this promise.

[31:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “They will come with weeping; I will bring them with supplication.” The ideas of contrition and repentance are implicit from the context (cf. vv. 18-19) and are supplied for clarity.

[31:9]  ⁵³ sn Jer 31:8-9 are reminiscent of the “New Exodus” motif of Isa 40-66 which has already been referred to in Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8. See especially Isa 35:3-10; 40:3-5, 11; 41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:9-13. As there, the New Exodus will so outstrip the old that the old will pale in comparison and be almost forgotten (see Jer 23:7-8).

[31:9]  ⁵⁴ sn Ephraim was the second son of Joseph who was elevated to a place of prominence in the family of Jacob by the patriarch’s special blessing. It was the strongest tribe in northern Israel and Samaria lay in its territory. It is often used as a poetic parallel for Israel as here. The poetry is not speaking of two separate entities here; it is a way of repeating an idea for emphasis. Moreover, there is no intent to show special preference for northern Israel over Judah. All Israel is metaphorically God’s son and the object of his special care and concern (Exod 4:22; Deut 32:6).

[31:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Reading a Qal perfect from the root II נָהַר (nahar; so KBL 509 s.v. and HALOT 639 s.v.) rather than I נָהַר (so BDB 625 s.v.).

[36:2]  ⁵⁶ sn Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23).

[36:2]  ⁵⁷ sn The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the Lord had told him to say or of everything that he had actually said. What the scroll undoubtedly contained was a synopsis of Jeremiah’s messages as constructed from his memory.

[36:2]  ⁵⁸ sn This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c. (1:2) and beyond (cf. Jer 40-44) much more was added to those two scrolls even later.

[36:31]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “for their iniquity.”

[36:31]  ⁶⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:31]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “all the disaster which I spoke against them and they did not listen [or obey].”

[44:26]  ⁶² tn Heb “Therefore.” This particle quite often introduces the announcement of judgment after an indictment or accusation of a crime. That is its function here after the statement of cause in vv. 24-25. However, it would not sound right after the immediately preceding ironical or sarcastic commands to go ahead and fulfill their vows. “But” is a better transition unless one wants to paraphrase “Therefore, since you are so determined to do that….”

[44:26]  ⁶³ tn Heb “Behold I swear by…that my name will no more be pronounced in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying, ‘As the Lord Yahweh lives.’” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style and the significance of pronouncing the name has been interpreted for the sake of readers who might not be familiar with this biblical idiom.

[44:26]  sn They will no longer be able to invoke his name in an oath because they will all be put to death (v. 27; cf. vv. 11-14).