Yeremia 4:28

4:28 Because of this the land will mourn

and the sky above will grow black. ¹ 

For I have made my purpose known ² 

and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.” ³ 

Yeremia 23:22

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, ⁴ 

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

Yeremia 38:15

38:15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. ⁵  If I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

Yeremia 51:56

51:56 For a destroyer is attacking Babylon. ⁶ 

Her warriors will be captured;

their bows will be broken. ⁷ 

For the Lord is a God who punishes; ⁸ 

he pays back in full. ⁹ 

[4:28]  ¹ sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.

[4:28]  ² tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is an example of hendiadys where two verbs are joined by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.

[4:28]  ³ tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”

[23:22]  ⁴ tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.

[38:15]  ⁵ tn Or “you will most certainly kill me, won’t you?” Heb “Will you not certainly kill me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. In situations like this BDB s.v. לֹא 4.b(β) says that הֲלֹא (halo’) “has a tendency to become little more than an affirmative particle, declaring with some rhetorical emphasis what is, or might be, well known.” The idea of certainty is emphasized here by the addition of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb (Joüon 2:422 §123.e).

[51:56]  ⁶ tn Heb “for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon.”

[51:56]  ⁷ tn The Piel form (which would be intransitive here, see GKC 142 §52.k) should probably be emended to Qal.

[51:56]  ⁸ tn Or “God of retribution.”

[51:56]  ⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “he certainly pays one back.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form here describes the Lord’s characteristic actions. Another option is to take it as referring specifically to his judgment on Babylon, in which case one should translate, “he will pay (Babylon) back in full.”