Jeremiah 11:20

11:20 So I said to the Lord, ¹ 

“O Lord who rules over all, ²  you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds. ³ 

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ⁵  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ⁶ 

So we put our hopes in you ⁷ 

because you alone do all this.”

Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ⁸ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ⁹  are judged fairly. ¹⁰ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ¹¹  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ¹² 

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¹ tn The words “So I said to the Lord” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift in address.

² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

³ tn Heb “Lord of armies, just judge, tester of kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style. In Hebrew thought the “kidneys” were thought of as the seat of the emotions and passions and the “heart” was viewed as the seat of intellect, conscience, and will. The “heart” and the “kidneys” are often used figuratively for the thoughts, emotions, motives, and drives that are thought to be seated in them.

⁴ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

⁵ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

⁶ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

⁷ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

⁸ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

⁹ tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

¹⁰ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

¹¹ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

¹² tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”