Jeremiah 3:25

3:25 Let us acknowledge¹ our shame.

Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve.²

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From earliest times to this very day

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

Jeremiah 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say,³

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities.⁴

Let us at least die there fighting,⁵

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment⁶

because we have sinned against him.⁷

Jeremiah 44:23

44:23 You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the Lord! You have not obeyed the Lord! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.”⁸

¹tn Heb “Let us lie down in….”

²tn Heb “Let us be covered with disgrace.”

³tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

⁵tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

⁶tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

⁷tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

⁸tn Heb “Because you have sacrificed and you have sinned against the Lord and you have not listened to the voice of the Lord and in his laws, in his statutes, and in his decrees you have not walked, therefore this disaster has happened to you as this day.” The text has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.