6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth: 4
‘Take note! 5 I am about to bring disaster on these people.
It will come as punishment for their scheming. 6
For they have paid no attention to what I have said, 7
and they have rejected my law.
10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. 8
Vent it on the peoples 9 who do not worship you. 10
For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. 11
They have completely destroyed them 12
and left their homeland in utter ruin.
11:20 So I said to the Lord, 13
“O Lord who rules over all, 14 you are a just judge!
You examine people’s hearts and minds. 15
I want to see you pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” 16
34:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem 17 and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion. 18
49:32 Their camels will be taken as plunder.
Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.
I will scatter to the four winds
those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. 19
I will bring disaster against them
from every direction,” says the Lord. 20
51:58 This is what the Lord who rules over all 21 says,
“Babylon’s thick wall 22 will be completely demolished. 23
Her high gates will be set on fire.
The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. 24
The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed.” 25
1 tn Heb “they will each set up.” The pronoun “they” refers back to the “kingdoms” in the preceding sentence. However, kingdoms do not sit on thrones; their kings do. This is an example of a figure of speech called metonymy where the kingdom is put for its king. For a similar use see 2 Chr 12:8.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
3 tn Or “They will come and set up their thrones in the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem. They will destroy all the walls surrounding it and also destroy all the towns in Judah.” The text of v. 15b reads in Hebrew, “they will each set up his throne [near? in?] the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls…and against all the towns….” Commentators are divided over whether the passage refers to the kings setting up their thrones after victory in preparation for passing judgment on their defeated enemies in the city or whether it refers to setting up siege against it. There is no Hebrew preposition before the word for “the entrance” so that it could be “in” (which would imply victory) or “at/near” (which would imply siege), and the same verb + object (i.e., “they will set up their thrones”) governs all the locative statements. It is most often taken to refer to the aftermath of victory because of the supposed parallel in Jer 43:8-13 and the supposed fulfillment in Jer 39:3. Though this may fit well with the first part of the compound expression, it does not fit well with the latter part which is most naturally taken to refer to hostile attacks against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. The translation given in the text is intended to reflect the idea of an army setting up for siege. The alternate translation is intended to reflect the other view.
4 tn Heb “earth.”
5 tn Heb “Behold!”
6 tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”
7 tn Heb “my word.”
8 tn Heb “know you.” For this use of the word “know” (יָדַע, yada’) see the note on 9:3.
9 tn Heb “tribes/clans.”
10 tn Heb “who do not call on your name.” The idiom “to call on your name” (directed to God) refers to prayer (mainly) and praise. See 1 Kgs 18:24-26 and Ps 116:13, 17. Here “calling on your name” is parallel to “acknowledging you.” In many locations in the OT “name” is equivalent to the person. In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in a person’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8). To call someone’s name over something was to claim it for one’s own (2 Sam 12:28).
11 tn Heb “have devoured Jacob.”
12 tn Or “have almost completely destroyed them”; Heb “they have devoured them and consumed them.” The figure of hyperbole is used here; elsewhere Jeremiah and God refer to the fact that they will not be completely consumed. See for example 4:27; 5:10, 18.
13 tn The words “So I said to the
14 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
15 tn Heb “
16 tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”
17 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
18 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
sn It is difficult to assign dates to passages which have no dating formulas but there is sufficient detail in this passage to show that this incident occurred sometime early in the siege of Jerusalem while Jeremiah was still free to come and go (see v. 2 and compare 37:4 and see the second study note on 32:2). The Babylonian forces blockaded Jerusalem and attacked the outlying cities, reducing them one by one until Jerusalem had no further help. According to v. 7 Azekah and Lachish in the western foothills still held out and there is evidence from some of the correspondence from Lachish at this period that help was being sought from Egypt.
19 tn See the translator’s note at Jer 9:26 and compare the usage in 9:26 and 25:23.
20 tn Heb “Oracle of the
21 sn See the note at Jer 2:19.
22 tn The text has the plural “walls,” but many Hebrew
23 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following finite verb. Another option is to translate, “will certainly be demolished.”
24 tn Heb “for what is empty.”
25 tn Heb “and the nations for fire, and they grow weary.”