4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done 5
will bring this on you.
This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. 6
The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” 7
5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. 8
They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. 9
They do not know what their God requires of them. 10
5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests exercise power by their own authority. 11
And my people love to have it this way.
But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! 12
8:4 The Lord said to me, 19
“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,
Do people not get back up when they fall down?
Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? 20
9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.
He must not even trust any of his relatives. 21
For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. 22
And all of his friends will tell lies about him.
18:16 So their land will become an object of horror. 23
People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.
All who pass that way will be filled with horror
and will shake their heads in derision. 24
22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. 25
But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”
That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. 26
Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.
50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;
they will turn their faces toward it.
They will come 33 and bind themselves to the Lord
in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. 34
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. 36
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 “Your way and your deeds.”
6 tn Heb “How bitter!”
7 tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.
8 tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.
9 tn Heb “the way of the
10 tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”
11 tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”
12 tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”
13 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”
sn Compare the use of similar titles in 2:19; 5:14; 6:6 and see the explanation in the study note at 2:19. In this instance the title appears to emphasize the
14 tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.
15 tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.
16 tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.
17 tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.
18 tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”
19 tn The words “the
20 sn There is a play on two different nuances of the same Hebrew word that means “turn” and “return,” “turn away” and “turn back.”
21 tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).
22 tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”
sn There is perhaps an intentional pun and allusion here to Gen 27:36 and the wordplay on the name Jacob there. The text here reads עָקוֹב יַעְקֹב (’aqob ya’qob).
23 tn There may be a deliberate double meaning involved here. The word translated here “an object of horror” refers both to destruction (cf. 2:15; 4:17) and the horror or dismay that accompanies it (cf. 5:30; 8:21). The fact that there is no conjunction or preposition in front of the noun “hissing” that follows this suggests that the reaction is in view here, not the cause.
24 tn Heb “an object of lasting hissing. All who pass that way will be appalled and shake their head.”
sn The actions of “shaking of the head” and “hissing” were obviously gestures of scorn and derision. See Lam 2:15-16.
25 tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.
26 tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.
27 tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.
28 tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.
sn The
29 tn Heb “[you are] great in counsel and mighty in deed.”
30 tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”
31 tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”
32 tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the
sn Other passages also speak about the “single-minded purpose” (Heb “one heart”) and “living in a way that shows respect for me.” Deut 30:6-8 speaks of a circumcised heart that will love him, obey him, and keep his commands. Ezek 11:20-21 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a single-minded, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit that will follow his decrees and keep his laws. Ezek 36:26-27 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a new, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit and an infusion of God’s own spirit so that they will be able to follow his decrees and keep his laws. Jer 24:7 speaks of the giving of a (new) heart so that they might “know” him. And Jer 31:33 speaks of God writing his law on their hearts. All this shows that there is a new motivation and a new enablement for fulfilling the old stipulations, especially that of whole-hearted devotion to him (cf. Deut 6:4-6).
33 tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).
34 sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.
35 tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”
36 sn The final chapter of the book of Jeremiah does not mention Jeremiah or record any of his prophecies.