3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, 2
like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” 3
says the Lord.
5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. 4
But the fact is, 5 what they swear to is really a lie.” 6
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered. 7
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right! 8
8:11 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my dear people 13 have suffered. 14
They say, “Everything will be all right!”
But everything is not all right! 15
10:24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure. 16
Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing. 17
21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’
says the Lord. 20
‘I will set fire to your palace;
it will burn up everything around it.’” 21
28:12 But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. 28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, 27 ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have 28 only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! 29
30:9 But they will be subject 32 to the Lord their God
and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them. 33
31:29 “When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ 34
46:6 But even the swiftest cannot get away.
Even the strongest cannot escape. 54
There in the north by the Euphrates River
they stumble and fall in defeat. 55
47:7 But how can it rest 56
when I, the Lord, have 57 given it orders?
I have ordered it to attack
the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast. 58
48:30 I, the Lord, affirm that 59 I know how arrogant they are.
But their pride is ill-founded.
Their boastings will prove to be false. 60
51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. 61
Cry out in mourning over it!
Get medicine for her wounds!
Perhaps she can be healed!
51:52 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” 62 says the Lord, 63
“when I will punish her idols.
Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
1 tn Or “For you must go and say.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is likely adversative here after a negative statement (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e). The
2 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
3 tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”
4 tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the
5 tc The translation follows many Hebrew
tn Heb “Surely.”
6 tn Heb “they swear falsely.”
7 tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”
8 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
9 tn Heb “Is it I whom they provoke?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer which is made explicit in the translation.
10 tn Heb “Is it not themselves to their own shame?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer which is made explicit in the translation.
11 tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.
12 tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”
13 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
14 tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”
15 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
16 tn Heb “with justice.”
17 tn The words, “to almost nothing” are not in the text. They are implicit from the general context and are supplied by almost all English versions.
18 tn Heb “It is useless!” See the same expression in a similar context in Jer 2:25.
19 tn Heb “We will follow our own plans and do each one according to the stubbornness of his own wicked heart.”
sn This has been the consistent pattern of their behavior. See 7:24; 9:13; 13:10; 16:12.
20 tn Heb “oracle of the
21 tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.
22 sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16; 44:26. Since the
23 tn Heb “Oracle of the
24 tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.
25 tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.
26 tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).
27 tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the
28 tn The Greek version reads “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.
29 tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”
sn This whole incident (and the preceding one in Jer 28) is symbolic. Jeremiah’s wearing of the yoke was symbolic of the
30 tn Heb “prophesying lies to you in my name.”
sn For the significance of “in my name” see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.
31 tn Heb “Oracle of the
32 tn The word “subject” in this verse and “subjugate” are from the same root word in Hebrew. A deliberate contrast is drawn between the two powers that they will serve.
33 tn Heb “and to David their king whom I will raise up for them.”
sn The Davidic ruler which I will raise up as king over them refers to a descendant of David who would be raised up over a regathered and reunited Israel and Judah. He is called “David” in Hos 3:5, Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25 and referred to as a shoot or sprig of Jesse in Isa 11:1, 10 and a “righteous branch” springing from David (the Davidic line). He is called “David” because he is from the Davidic line and because David is the type of the ideal king whom the prophets looked forward to. See further the study notes on 23:5 for this ideal king and for his relation to the NT fulfillment in the person of Jesus the Christ.
34 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Ezek 18:2 in the Qal stem and in Eccl 10:10 in the Piel stem. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the idea is of the “bluntness” of the teeth, not from having ground them down due to the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.
sn This is a proverbial statement that is also found in Ezek 18:2. It served to articulate the complaint that the present generation was suffering for the accrued sins of their ancestors (cf. Lam 5:7) and that the
35 tn Heb “Behold I am healing.” For the usage of the particle “behold” indicating certainty see the translator’s note on 1:6. These are the great and hidden things that the
36 sn Compare Jer 30:17. Jerusalem is again being personified and her political and spiritual well-being are again in view.
37 tn The meaning and text of this word is questioned by KBL 749 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת. However, KBL also emends both occurrences of the verb from which BDB 801 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת derives this noun. BDB is more likely correct in seeing this and the usage of the verb in Prov 27:6; Ezek 35:13 as Aramaic loan words from a root meaning to be rich (equivalent to the Hebrew עָשַׁר, ’ashar).
38 sn Most commentators are agreed that the incident referred to here occurred during the period of relief from the siege provided by the Babylonians going off to fight against the Egyptians who were apparently coming to Zedekiah’s aid (compare vv. 21-22 with 37:5, 7). The freeing of the slaves had occurred earlier, under the crisis of the siege while the people were more responsive to the
39 tn Heb “they had brought them into subjection for male and female slaves.” However, the qualification of “male and female” is already clear from the preceding and is unnecessary to the English sentence.
40 tn This is an attempt to represent the particle כִּי (ki) which is probably not really intensive here (cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) but is one of those causal uses of כִּי that BDB discusses on 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c where the cause is really the failure of the people of Judah and Jerusalem to listen/obey. I.e., the causal particle is at the beginning of the sentence so as not to interrupt the contrast drawn.
41 tn Heb “this people.” However, the speech is addressed to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, so the second person is retained in English. In addition to the stylistic difference that Hebrew exhibits in the rapid shift between persons (second to third and third to second, which have repeatedly been noted and documented from GKC 462 §144.p) there may be a subtle rhetorical reason for the shift here. The shift from direct address to indirect address which characterizes this verse and the next may reflect the
42 tn Heb “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.
43 tn Heb “Get [or fetch] him.” The referent is supplied for clarity.
44 tn Or “take care of him”; Heb “set your eyes on him.” For the meaning of this idiom see BDB 963 s.v. שִׂים 2.c and compare 24:6 where the phrase “for good” is added.
45 tn Heb “Don’t do anything evil [= harmful] to him.”
46 tn Heb “But I will rescue you on that day” (referring to the same day mentioned in the preceding verse).
47 tn Heb “Oracle of the
48 sn Some commentators see this as a reference to the princes from whose clutches Ebed-Melech delivered Jeremiah (38:7-13). However, it is clear that in this context it refers to those that he would fear when the
49 tn Heb “this thing.”
50 tn Heb “is false” or “is a lie.”
51 tn Or “Today.”
52 tn The words “what he said” are not in the text but are implicit and seem necessary for clarity.
53 tn Heb “But you have not hearkened to the voice of [idiomatic for “obeyed” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Qal.1.m] the
54 tn The translation assumes that the adjectives with the article are functioning as superlatives in this context (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). It also assumes that אַל (’al) with the jussive is expressing here an emphatic negative rather than a negative wish (cf. GKC 317 §107.p and compare the usage in Ps 50:3).
55 tn Heb “they stumble and fall.” However, the verbs here are used of a fatal fall, of a violent death in battle (see BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.2.a), and a literal translation might not be understood by some readers.
56 tn The reading here follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads “how can you rest” as a continuation of the second person in v. 6.
57 tn Heb “When the
58 tn Heb “Against Ashkelon and the sea coast, there he has appointed it.” For the switch to the first person see the preceding translator’s note. “There” is poetical and redundant and the idea of “attacking” is implicit in “against.”
59 tn Heb “Oracle of the
60 tn The meaning of this verse is somewhat uncertain: Heb “I know, oracle of the
61 tn The verbs in this verse and the following are all in the Hebrew perfect tense, a tense that often refers to a past action or a past action with present results. However, as the translator’s notes have indicated, the prophets use this tense to view the actions as if they were as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The stance here is ideal, viewed as already accomplished.
62 tn Heb “that being so, look, days are approaching.” Here לָכֵן (lakhen) introduces the Lord’s response to the people’s lament (v. 51). It has the force of “yes, but” or “that may be true.” See Judg 11:8 and BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.
63 tn Heb “Oracle of the
64 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.