Yeremia 4:9
Konteks4:9 “When this happens,” 1 says the Lord,
“the king and his officials will lose their courage.
The priests will be struck with horror,
and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment.”
Yeremia 4:19
Konteks“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! 3
I writhe in anguish.
Oh, the pain in my heart! 4
My heart pounds within me.
I cannot keep silent.
For I hear the sound of the trumpet; 5
the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! 6
Yeremia 17:1
Konteks17:1 7 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel
on their stone-hard 8 hearts.
It is inscribed with a diamond 9 point
on the horns of their altars. 10
Yeremia 20:12
Konteks20:12 O Lord who rules over all, 11 you test and prove the righteous.
You see into people’s hearts and minds. 12
Pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.
[4:19] 2 tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the
[4:19] 3 tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”
[4:19] 4 tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”
[4:19] 5 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
[4:19] 6 tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).
[17:1] 7 tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.
[17:1] 8 tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.
[17:1] 9 tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.
[17:1] 10 tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”
[17:1] sn There is biting sarcasm involved in the use of the figures here. The law was inscribed on the tablets of stone by the “finger” of God (Exod 31:18; 32:16). Later under the new covenant it would be written on their hearts (Jer 31:33). Blood was to be applied to the horns of the altar in offering the sin offering (cf., e.g., Lev 4:7, 18, 25, 20) and on the bronze altar to cleanse it from sin on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:18). Here their sins are engraved (permanently written, cf. Job 19:24) on their hearts (i.e., control their thoughts and actions) and on their altars (permanently polluting them).
[20:12] 11 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[20:12] sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title for God.
[20:12] 12 tn Heb “
[20:12] sn This verse is almost an exact duplication of the petition in one of Jeremiah’s earlier prayers and complaints. See Jer 11:20 and notes there for explanation of the Hebrew psychology underlying the use of “kidneys and heart” here. For the thoughts expressed here see Ps 17.
