Yeremia 9:24

9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:

They should boast that they understand and know me.

They should boast that they know and understand

that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth

and that I desire people to do these things,” ¹ 

says the Lord.

Yeremia 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ² 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ³ 

Why are wicked people successful? ⁴ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Yeremia 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁵  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁶  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ⁷  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ⁸  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Yeremia 26:21

26:21 When the king and all his bodyguards ⁹  and officials heard what he was prophesying, ¹⁰  the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 29:23

29:23 This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful ¹²  in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. ¹³  They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 34:3

34:3 You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. ¹⁵  Then you must go to Babylon.

Yeremia 36:30

36:30 So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. ¹⁶  His dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 38:25

38:25 The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. ¹⁸  Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.’ ¹⁹ 

Yeremia 40:7

A Small Judean Province is Established at Mizpah

40:7 Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern ²⁰  the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon. ²¹ 

Yeremia 52:4

52:4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. ²²  They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ²³ 

[9:24]  ¹ tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the Lord, do faithfulness, justice, and righteousness in the earth for/that I delight in these.” It is uncertain whether the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) before the clause “I delight in these things” is parallel to the כִּי introducing the clause “that I, the Lord, act…” or causal giving the grounds for the Lord acting the way he does. In the light of the contrasts in the passage and the emphasis that Jeremiah has placed on obedience to the covenant and ethical conduct in conjunction with real allegiance to the Lord not mere lip service, it is probable that the clauses are parallel. For the use of כִּי to introduce clauses of further definition after a direct object as here see GKC 365 §117.h and see BDB 393 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.a. For parallels to the idea of Yahweh requiring these characteristics in people see Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8.

[12:1]  ² tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ³ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[18:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[26:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “all his mighty men/soldiers.” It is unlikely that this included all the army. It more likely was the palace guards or royal bodyguards (see 2 Sam 23 where the same word is used of David’s elite corps).

[26:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his words.”

[26:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “But Uriah heard and feared and fled and entered Egypt.”

[29:23]  ¹² tn It is commonly assumed that this word is explained by the two verbal actions that follow. The word (נְבָלָה, nÿvalah) is rather commonly used of sins of unchastity (cf., e.g., Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 2 Sam 13:12) which would fit the reference to adultery. However, the word is singular and not likely to cover both actions that follow. The word is also used of the greedy act of Achan (Josh 7:15) which threatened Israel with destruction and the churlish behavior of Nabal (1 Sam 25:25) which threatened him and his household with destruction. The word is also used of foolish talk in Isa 9:17 (9:16 HT) and Isa 32:6. It is possible that this refers to a separate act, one that would have brought the death penalty from Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the preaching of rebellion in conformity with the message of the false prophets in Jerusalem and other nations (cf. 27:9, 13). Hence it is possible that the translation should read: “This will happen because of their vile conduct. They have propagated rebellion. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. They have spoken lies while claiming my authority.”

[29:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

[29:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[34:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon and his mouth will speak with your mouth.” For this same idiom in reverse order see 32:4 and consult the translator’s note there for the obligatory nuance given to the verbs.

[34:3]  sn For the fulfillment of this see Jer 52:7-11.

[36:30]  ¹⁶ sn This prophesy was not “totally” fulfilled because his son Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) did occupy the throne for three months (2 Kgs 23:8). However, his rule was negligible and after his capitulation and exile to Babylon, he himself was promised that neither he nor his successors would occupy the throne of David (cf. Jer 22:30; and see the study notes on 22:24, 30).

[36:30]  ¹⁷ sn Compare the more poetic prophecy in Jer 22:18-19 and see the study note on 22:19.

[38:25]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “and what the king said to you” is actually at the end of the verse, but most commentators see it as also under the governance of “tell us” and many commentaries and English versions move the clause forward for the sake of English style as has been done here.

[38:25]  ¹⁹ tn Or “lest we kill you”; Heb “and we will not kill you,” which as stated in the translator’s note on 37:20 introduces a negative purpose (or result) clause. See 37:20, 38:24 for parallel usage.

[40:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “set him over/ made him overseer over.” See BDB 823-24 s.v. פָּקִיד Hiph.1 and compare usage in Gen 39:4-5.

[40:7]  ²¹ sn Compare Jer 39:10.

[52:4]  ²² tn Or “against.”

[52:4]  ²³ sn This would have been January 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).