Yeremia 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ¹ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ² 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ³  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ⁴  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

Yeremia 8:6

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ⁵ 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ⁶ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ⁷ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

Yeremia 11:17

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ⁸  planted you in the land, ⁹ 

I now decree that disaster will come on you ¹⁰ 

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ¹¹ 

Yeremia 22:4

22:4 If you are careful to ¹²  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. ¹³ 

Yeremia 35:4

35:4 I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. ¹⁴  That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers ¹⁵  of the temple, stayed.

Yeremia 42:5

42:5 They answered Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as ¹⁶  the Lord sends you to tell us to do.

Yeremia 46:10

46:10 But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. ¹⁷ 

It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. ¹⁸ 

His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!

It will drink their blood until it is full! ¹⁹ 

For the Lord God who rules over all ²⁰  will offer them up as a sacrifice

in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Yeremia 51:57

51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

along with her governors, leaders, ²¹  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ²² 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ²³ 

[6:16]  ¹ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ² tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ³ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[8:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”

[8:6]  sn The wordplay begun in v. 4 is continued here. The word translated “turns aside” in the literal translation and “wayward” in the translation is from the same root as “go the wrong way,” “turn around,” “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” “turn back to me.” What God hoped for were confessions of repentance and change of behavior; what he got was denial of wrongdoing and continued turning away from him.

[11:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:17]  sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[11:17]  ⁹ tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term Lord of armies has been rendered this sentence has been restructured to avoid confusion in English style.

[11:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[22:4]  ¹² tn The translation here reflects the emphasizing infinitive absolute before the verb.

[22:4]  ¹³ 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.

[35:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God.” The reference to “sons” and to “man of God” fits the usage of these terms elsewhere to refer to prophets and their disciples (see BDB 43-44 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 3(b) and compare usage in 2 Kgs 4:40 for the former and BDB 121 s.v. בֵּן 7.a and compare the usage in 2 Kgs 4:38 for the latter).

[35:4]  ¹⁵ sn According to Jer 52:24; 2 Kgs 25:18 there were three officers who carried out this duty. It was their duty to guard the entrance of the temple to keep people out that did not belong there, such as those who were foreigners or ritually unclean (see 2 Kgs 12:9 and compare Ps 118:19-20).

[42:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do according to all the word which.”

[46:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[46:10]  ¹⁸ sn Most commentators think that this is a reference to the Lord exacting vengeance on Pharaoh Necho for killing Josiah, carrying Jehoahaz off into captivity, and exacting heavy tribute on Judah in 609 b.c. (2 Kgs 23:29, 33-35).

[46:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or more paraphrastically, “he will kill them/ until he has exacted full vengeance”; Heb “The sword will eat and be sated; it will drink its fill of their blood.”

[46:10]  sn This passage is, of course, highly figurative. The Lord does not have a literal “sword,” but he uses agents of destruction like the Assyrian armies (called his “rod” in Isa 10:5-6) and the Babylonian armies (called his war club in Jer 51:20) to wreak vengeance on his foes. Likewise, swords do not “eat” or “drink.” What is meant here is that God will use this battle against the Egyptians to kill off many Egyptians until his vengeance is fully satisfied.

[46:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.

[51:57]  ²¹ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ²² sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ²³ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.