3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. 1 Tell them,
‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. 2
For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not be angry with you forever.
11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, 3 planted you in the land, 4
I now decree that disaster will come on you 5
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” 6
18:23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill me.
Do not pardon their crimes!
Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! 7
Let them be brought down in defeat before you!
Deal with them while you are still angry! 8
1 tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.
2 tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”
3 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
4 tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.
5 tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term
6 tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
7 sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).
8 tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”
9 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
10 sn Compare Jer 19:13.
11 tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.” For this idiom see BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.c and compare usage in 18:10.
12 tn Heb “from their youth.”
sn Compare Jer 3:24-25; 11:21. The nation is being personified and reference is made to her history from the time she left Egypt onward (cf. 2:2).
13 tn Heb “the people of Israel.” However, since “people of Israel” has been used in the preceding line for the northern kingdom as opposed to the kingdom of Judah, it might lead to confusion to translate literally. Moreover, the pronoun “they” accomplishes the same purpose.
14 tn Heb “by the work of their hands.” See the translator’s note on 25:6 and the parallelism in 25:14 for this rendering rather than referring it to the making of idols as in 1:16; 10:3.
15 tn Heb “Oracle of the
16 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
17 tn Heb “remove it from my sight 32:33 because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel and the children of Judah which they have done to make me angry, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and an attempt has been made to preserve the causal connections.