Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, 1 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! 2 

What a joy it would be for me to give 3  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ 4 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ 5 

and would never cease being loyal to me. 6 

Jeremiah 31:36

31:36 The Lord affirms, 7  “The descendants of Israel will not

cease forever to be a nation in my sight.

That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights

were to cease to operate before me.” 8 

1 tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

2 tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

sn The imagery here appears to be that of treating the wife as an equal heir with the sons and of giving her the best piece of property.

3 tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

4 tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

5 tn Heb “my father.”

6 tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”

7 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

8 tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘then the seed of Israel could cease from being a nation before me forever (or more literally, “all the days”).’” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to modern style. The connection has been maintained by reversing the order of condition and consequence and still retaining the condition in the second clause. For the meaning of “cease to operate” for the verb מוּשׁ (mush) compare the usage in Isa 54:10; Ps 55:11 (55:12 HT); Prov 17:13 where what is usually applied to persons or things is applied to abstract things like this (see HALOT 506 s.v. II מוּשׁ Qal for general usage).