Yeremia 3:12

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ¹  Tell them,

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ² 

For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

Yeremia 13:12

13:12 “So tell them, ³  ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.”’ ⁴  And they will probably say to you, ‘Do you not think we know ⁵  that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?’

Yeremia 16:11

16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, ⁶  ‘It is because your ancestors ⁷  rejected me and paid allegiance to ⁸  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. ⁹ 

Yeremia 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ¹⁰  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ¹¹  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ¹²  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ¹³ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”

[13:12]  ³ tn Heb “So you shall say this word [or message] to them.”

[13:12]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).

[16:11]  ⁶ tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’)” which occurs after “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read: “When you tell them these things and they say, ‘…’, then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”

[16:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).

[16:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.

[16:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.

[18:11]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ¹¹ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ¹² tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ¹³ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.