2:9 “So, once more I will state my case 1 against you,” says the Lord.
“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. 2
4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil 5
so that you may yet be delivered.
How long will you continue to harbor up
wicked schemes within you?
5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. 6
They have said, ‘That is not so! 7
No harm will come to us.
We will not experience war and famine. 8
5:13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind. 9
The Lord has not spoken through them. 10
So, let what they say happen to them.’”
6:8 So 11 take warning, Jerusalem,
or I will abandon you in disgust 12
and make you desolate,
a place where no one can live.”
10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.
He uses hammer and nails to fasten it 13 together
so that it will not fall over.
23:35 So I, Jeremiah, tell you, 19 “Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?’ 20
25:17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. 22
37:16 So 32 Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. 33 He 34 was kept there for a long time.
The following events occurred when Jerusalem 38 was captured. 39
48:31 So I will weep with sorrow for Moab.
I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab.
I will moan 42 for the people of Kir Heres.
50:24 I set a trap for you, Babylon;
you were caught before you knew it.
You fought against me.
So you were found and captured. 43
50:30 So her young men will fall in her city squares.
All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”
says the Lord. 44
So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.
1 tn Or “bring charges against you.”
sn The language used here is that of the law court. In international political contexts it was the language of a great king charging his subject with breach of covenant. See for examples in earlier prophets, Isa 1:2-20; Mic 6:1-8.
2 tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.
sn The passage reflects the Hebrew concept of corporate solidarity: The actions of parents had consequences for their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Compare the usage in the ten commandments, Deut 5:10, and note the execution of the children of Dathan and Abiram, Deut 11:6, and of Achan, Josh 7:24-25.
3 tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.
4 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
5 tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”
6 tn Heb “have denied the
7 tn Or “he will do nothing”; Heb “Not he [or it]!”
8 tn Heb “we will not see the sword and famine.”
9 tn Heb “will be wind.”
sn There is a wordplay on the Hebrew word translated “wind” (רוּחַ, ruakh) which also means “spirit.” The prophets spoke by inspiration of the Spirit of the
10 tc Heb “the word is not in them.” The MT has a highly unusual form here, the Piel perfect with the definite article (הַדִּבֵּר, haddibber). It is undoubtedly best to read with the LXX (Greek version) and one Hebrew
11 tn This word is not in the text but is supplied in the translation. Jeremiah uses a figure of speech (enallage) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to address him/her directly.
12 tn Heb “lest my soul [= I] becomes disgusted with you.”
sn The wordplay begun with “sound…in Tekoa” in v. 1 and continued with “they will pitch” in v. 3 is concluded here with “turn away” (וּבִתְקוֹעַ תִּקְעוּ [uvitqoa’ tiq’u] in v. 1, תָּקְעוּ [taq’u] in v. 3 and תֵּקַע [teqa’] here).
13 tn The pronoun is plural in Hebrew, referring to the parts.
14 tn Heb “Is not my message like a fire?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer that is made explicit in the translation. The words “that purges dross” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “Is it not like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” See preceding note.
16 tn Heb “Oracle of the
17 tn Heb “Oracle of the
18 tn Heb “who are stealing my words from one another.” However, context shows that it is their own word which they claim is from the
19 tn The words “So, I, Jeremiah tell you” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that it is he who is addressing the people, not the
20 tn This line is sometimes rendered as a description of what the people are doing (cf. NIV). However, repetition with some slight modification referring to the prophet in v. 37 followed by the same kind of prohibition that follows here shows that what is being contrasted is two views toward the
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
22 tn The words “the wine of his wrath” are not in the text but are implicit in the metaphor (see vv. 15-16). They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
23 tn The verbs in this verse are to be interpreted as iterative imperfects in past time rather than as futures because of the explicit contrast that is drawn in the two verses by the emphatic syntactical construction of the two verses. Both verses begin with a casus pendens construction to throw the two verses into contrast: Heb “The prophets who were before me and you from ancient times, they prophesied…The prophet who prophesied peace, when the word of that prophet came true, that prophet was known that the
24 tn Heb “prophesying lies to you in my name.”
sn For the significance of “in my name” see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.
25 tn Heb “Oracle of the
26 tn Heb “pay attention to the word of the
27 tn Heb “I weighed out the money [more literally, “silver”] for him, seventeen shekels of silver.”
sn Coins were not in common use until the postexilic period. Payment in gold and silver was made by cutting off pieces of silver or gold and weighing them in a beam balance using standard weights as the measure. A shekel weighed approximately 0.4 ounce or 11.4 grams. The English equivalents are only approximations.
28 tn Heb “There shall not be cut to Jonadab son of Rechab a man standing before me all the days.” For the first part of this idiom see 33:17-18 where it is applied to David always having a descendant to occupy the throne and the Levites will always have priests to offer up sacrifices. For the latter part of the idiom “to stand before” referring to service see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד 1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 1:2; 2 Kgs 3:14; Jer 15:19; Deut 10:8. As comparison with those passages will show, it refers to attending on, or serving a superior, a king, or the
29 tn Or “‘to us personally’…to them personally”; Heb “‘in our ears’…in their ears.” Elsewhere this has been rendered “in the hearing of” or “where they could hear.” All three of those idioms sound unnatural in this context. The mere personal pronoun seems adequate.
30 sn This statement anticipates v. 15. Verses 3-4 are parenthetical to the narrative thread which is picked up in v. 5. They provide background information necessary for understanding the situation at the time the delegation comes to Jeremiah.
31 tn The words “as he pleased” are not in the text but are implicit in the idiom both in Hebrew and in English. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity and the sake of English idiom.
32 tn The particle כִּי (ki) here is probably temporal, introducing the protasis to the main clause in v. 17 (cf. BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.a). However, that would make the translation too long, so the present translation does what several modern English versions do here, though there are no parallels listed for this nuance in the lexicons.
33 tn Heb “Jeremiah came into the house of the pit [= “dungeon,” BDB 92 s.v. בּוֹר 4 and compare usage in Gen 40:15; 41:14] and into the cells [this word occurs only here; it is defined on the basis of the cognate languages (cf. BDB 333 s.v. חָנוּת)].” The sentence has been restructured and some words supplied in the translation to better relate it to the preceding context.
34 tn Heb “Jeremiah.” But the proper name is somewhat redundant and unnecessary in a modern translation.
35 tn Heb “Jeremiah remained/stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.” The translation is meant to better reflect the situation; i.e., Jeremiah was released from the cistern but still had to stay in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
36 tn Heb “And Jeremiah stayed/remained in the courtyard of the guardhouse…” The translation once again intends to reflect the situation. Jeremiah had a secret meeting with the king at the third entrance to the temple (v. 14). He was returned to the courtyard of the guardhouse (cf. v. 13) after the conversation with the king where the officials came to question him (v. 27). He was not sent back to the dungeon in Jonathan’s house as he feared, but was left confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
37 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
38 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
39 tc The precise meaning of this line and its relation to the context are somewhat uncertain. This line is missing from the Greek and Syriac versions and from a few Hebrew
40 tn Heb “the many [or great] waters.” This is generally identified with the pool of Gibeon mentioned in 2 Sam 2:13.
41 tn Or “without distinction,” or “All the people from the least important to the most important”; Heb “from the least to the greatest.” This is a figure of speech that uses polar opposites as an all-inclusive designation of everyone without exception (i.e., it included all the people from the least important or poorest to the most important or richest.)
42 tc The translation is based on the emendation of the Hebrew third masculine singular (יֶהְגֶּה, yehggeh) to the first singular (אֶהְגֶּה, ’ehgeh). This emendation is assumed by almost all of the modern English versions and commentaries even though the textual evidence for it is weak (only one Hebrew
43 tn Heb “You were found [or found out] and captured because you fought against the
44 tn Heb “Oracle of the
45 sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586
46 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
47 tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”