Jeremiah 11:10

11:10 They have gone back to the evil ways 1  of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to 2  other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah 3  have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

Jeremiah 13:11

13:11 For,’ I say, 4  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah 5  tightly 6  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. 7  But they would not obey me.

Jeremiah 27:8

27:8 But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to 8  him. I, the Lord, affirm that 9  I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it 10  with war, 11  starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it. 12 

Jeremiah 27:11

27:11 Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to 13  the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation 14  in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’” 15 

1 tn Or “They have repeated the evil actions of….”

2 tn Heb “have walked/followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

3 tn Heb “house of Israel and house of Judah.”

4 tn The words “I say” are “Oracle of the Lord” in Hebrew, and are located at the end of this statement in the Hebrew text rather than the beginning. However, they are rendered in the first person and placed at the beginning for smoother English style.

5 tn Heb “all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah.”

6 tn It would be somewhat unnatural in English to render the play on the word translated here “cling tightly” and “bound tightly” in a literal way. They are from the same root word in Hebrew (דָּבַק, davaq), a word that emphasizes the closest of personal relationships and the loyalty connected with them. It is used, for example, of the relationship of a husband and a wife and the loyalty expected of them (cf. Gen 2:24; for other similar uses see Ruth 1:14; 2 Sam 20:2; Deut 11:22).

7 tn Heb “I bound them…in order that they might be to me for a people and for a name and for praise and for honor.” The sentence has been separated from the preceding and an equivalent idea expressed which is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

8 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

9 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

10 tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the Lord.” The long complex Hebrew sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and the figures interpreted for the sake of clarity. The particle אֵת, the sign of the accusative, before “which will not put…” is a little unusual here. For its use to introduce a new topic (here a second relative clause) see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α.

11 tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

12 tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.

tn Heb “I will punish that nation until I have destroyed them [i.e., its people] by his hand.” “Hand” here refers to agency. Hence, “I will use him.”

13 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

14 tn The words “Things will go better for” are not in the text. They are supplied contextually as a means of breaking up the awkward syntax of the original which reads “The nation which brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and subjects itself to him, I will leave it…”

15 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”