2:25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out
and your throats become dry. 5
But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me
because I love those foreign gods 6 and want to pursue them!’
12:12 A destructive army 11 will come marching
over the hilltops in the desert.
For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon 12
against 13 everyone from one end of the land to the other.
No one will be safe. 14
15:17 I did not spend my time in the company of other people,
laughing and having a good time.
I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you 15
and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.
17:19 The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate 21 through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. 22
18:13 Therefore, the Lord says,
“Ask the people of other nations
whether they have heard of anything like this.
Israel should have been like a virgin.
But she has done something utterly revolting!
21:8 “But 23 tell the people of Jerusalem 24 that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. 25
48:35 I will put an end in Moab
to those who make offerings at her places of worship. 42
I will put an end to those who sacrifice to other gods.
I, the Lord, affirm it! 43
1 tn The Hebrew particle (the vav [ו] consecutive), which is often rendered in some English versions as “and” and in others is simply left untranslated, is rendered here epexegetically, reflecting a summary statement.
2 sn The Hebrew idiom (literally “I will speak my judgments against”) is found three other times in Jeremiah (4:12; 39:5; 52:9), where it is followed by the carrying out of the sentence. Here the carrying out of the sentence precedes in v. 15.
3 tn Heb “on them.” The antecedent goes back to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah (i.e., the people in them) in v. 15.
4 tn I.e., idols.
5 tn Heb “Refrain your feet from being bare and your throat from being dry/thirsty.”
6 tn Heb “It is useless! No!” For this idiom, see Jer 18:12; NEB “No; I am desperate.”
7 tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.
8 tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.
9 tn Heb “Death will be chosen rather than life by the remnant who are left from this wicked family in all the places where I have banished them.” The sentence is broken up and restructured to avoid possible confusion because of the complexity of the English to some modern readers. There appears to be an extra “those who are left” that was inadvertently copied from the preceding line. It is missing from one Hebrew
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn For the significance of this title see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
11 tn Heb “destroyers.”
12 tn Heb “It is the
13 tn Heb “For a sword of the
14 tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”
15 tn Heb “because of your hand.”
16 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the
17 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).
18 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.
19 tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.
20 sn Observance of the Sabbath day (and the Sabbatical year) appears to have been a litmus test of the nation’s spirituality since it is mentioned in a number of passages besides this one (cf., e.g., Isa 56:2, 6; 58:13; Neh 13:15-18). Perhaps this is because the Sabbath day was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exod 31:13-17) just as the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic covenant (Gen 9:12, 13, 17) and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 17:11). This was not the only command they failed to obey, nor was their failure to obey this one the sole determining factor in the
21 sn The identity and location of the People’s Gate is uncertain since it is mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Some identify it with the Benjamin Gate mentioned in Jer 37:13; 38:7 (cf. NAB), but there is no textual support for this in the Hebrew Bible or in any of the ancient versions.
22 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
23 tn Heb “And/But unto this people you shall say…” “But” is suggested here by the unusual word order which offsets what they are to say to Zedekiah (v. 3).
24 tn Heb “these people.”
25 tn Heb “Behold I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
27 tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.
28 tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.
29 tn For the rendering of this term see the translator’s note on 29:2.
30 tn This verse is not actually a sentence in the Hebrew original but is a prepositioned object to the verb in v. 20, “I will hand them over.” This construction is called casus pendens in the older grammars and is used to call attention to a subject or object (cf. GKC 458 §143.d and compare the usage in 33:24). The same nondescript “I will punish” which was used to resolve the complex sentence in the previous verse has been chosen to introduce the objects here before the more specific “I will hand them over” in the next verse.
31 sn Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23).
32 sn The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the
33 sn This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6
34 tn See the translator’s notes on 39:3, 9 for the names and titles here.
35 tn Heb “they.” The referent must be supplied from the preceding, i.e., Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. “They” are those who have experienced the disaster and are distinct from those being addressed and their ancestors (44:3b).
36 tn Heb “thus making me angry.” However, this is a good place to break the sentence to create a shorter sentence that is more in keeping with contemporary English style.
37 tn Heb “by going to offer sacrifice in serving/worshiping.” The second לְ (lamed) + infinitive is epexegetical of the first (cf. IBHS 608-9 §36.2.3e).
38 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 10, 17, 21).
39 sn Compare Jer 19:4 for the same thought and see also 7:9.
40 tn There appears to be a deliberate shift in the pronouns used in vv. 2-5. “You” refers to the people living in Egypt who are being addressed (v. 2) and to the people of present and past generations to whom the
41 tn Heb “They did not listen or incline their ear [= pay attention] by turning from their wickedness by not sacrificing to other gods.” The לְ (lamed) + the negative + the infinitive is again epexegetical. The sentence has been restructured and more idiomatic English expressions have been used to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to retain the basic relationships of subordination.
42 tn Heb “high place[s].” For the meaning and significance of this term see the study note on 7:31.
43 tn Heb “Oracle of the