20:8 For whenever I prophesy, 1 I must cry out, 2
“Violence and destruction are coming!” 3
This message from the Lord 4 has made me
an object of continual insults and derision.
18:16 So their land will become an object of horror. 5
People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.
All who pass that way will be filled with horror
and will shake their heads in derision. 6
1 tn Heb “speak,” but the speaking is in the context of speaking as a prophet.
2 tn Heb “I cry out, I proclaim.”
3 tn Heb “Violence and destruction.”
sn The words “Violence and destruction…” are a synopsis of his messages of judgment. Jeremiah is lamenting that his ministry up to this point has been one of judgment and has brought him nothing but ridicule because the
4 tn Heb “the word of the
5 tn There may be a deliberate double meaning involved here. The word translated here “an object of horror” refers both to destruction (cf. 2:15; 4:17) and the horror or dismay that accompanies it (cf. 5:30; 8:21). The fact that there is no conjunction or preposition in front of the noun “hissing” that follows this suggests that the reaction is in view here, not the cause.
6 tn Heb “an object of lasting hissing. All who pass that way will be appalled and shake their head.”
sn The actions of “shaking of the head” and “hissing” were obviously gestures of scorn and derision. See Lam 2:15-16.