Jeremiah 2:27

2:27 They say to a wooden idol, ¹  ‘You are my father.’

They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ² 

Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ³ 

Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ⁴ 

“This will happen ⁵  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ⁶ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 8:2

8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ⁷  These are things they ⁸  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ⁹  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ¹⁰  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 9:24

9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:

They should boast that they understand and know me.

They should boast that they know and understand

that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth

and that I desire people to do these things,” ¹² 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 10:5

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ¹³ 

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¹ tn Heb “wood…stone…”

² sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”

³ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”

⁴ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

⁵ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

⁶ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

⁷ tc MT, 4QJer^a and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJer^c reads “the sun and all the stars.”

tn Heb “the host of heaven.”

⁸ tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”

⁹ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

¹⁰ tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.

¹¹ tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”

¹² tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the Lord, do faithfulness, justice, and righteousness in the earth for/that I delight in these.” It is uncertain whether the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) before the clause “I delight in these things” is parallel to the כִּי introducing the clause “that I, the Lord, act…” or causal giving the grounds for the Lord acting the way he does. In the light of the contrasts in the passage and the emphasis that Jeremiah has placed on obedience to the covenant and ethical conduct in conjunction with real allegiance to the Lord not mere lip service, it is probable that the clauses are parallel. For the use of כִּי to introduce clauses of further definition after a direct object as here see GKC 365 §117.h and see BDB 393 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.a. For parallels to the idea of Yahweh requiring these characteristics in people see Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8.

¹³ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”