Jeremiah 16:11

16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, 1  ‘It is because your ancestors 2  rejected me and paid allegiance to 3  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. 4 

1 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’)” which occurs after “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read: “When you tell them these things and they say, ‘…’, then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”

2 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).

3 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.

4 tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.