Jeremiah 11:12
11:12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will 1 go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means 2 be able to save them when disaster strikes them.
Jeremiah 11:14
11:14 So, Jeremiah, 3 do not pray for these people. Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf. Do not plead with me to save them. 4 For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.” 5
1 tn Heb “Then the towns of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will…”
2 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic involving the use of an infinitive of the verb before the verb itself (Heb “saving they will not save”). For this construction to give emphasis to an antithesis, cf. GKC 343 §113.p.
3 tn Heb “you.”
4 tn The words “to save them” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
sn Cf. Jer 7:16 where this same command is addressed to Jeremiah.
5 tc The rendering “when disaster strikes them” is based on reading “at the time of” (בְּעֵת, bÿ’et) with a number of Hebrew mss and the versions instead of “on account of” (בְּעַד, bÿ’ad). W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:347) is probably right in assuming that the MT has been influenced by “for them” (בַעֲדָם, va’adam) earlier in the verse.