3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. 1 You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. 2
8:10 3 So I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
16:19 Then I said, 7
“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.
You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. 8
Nations from all over the earth
will come to you and say,
‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –
worthless idols that could not help them at all. 9
18:18 Then some people 10 said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! 11 There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. 12 Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! 13 Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”
30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: 14
Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?
Why then do I see all these strong men
grabbing their stomachs in pain like 15 a woman giving birth?
And why do their faces
turn so deathly pale?
31:8 Then I will reply, 16 ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north.
I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.
Blind and lame people will come with them,
so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.
A vast throng of people will come back here.
51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! 29
Bring more guards! 30
Post them all around the city! 31
Put men in ambush! 32
For the Lord will do what he has planned.
He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. 33
1 tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
2 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
3 sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.
4 tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”
5 tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.
6 tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.
sn The word amen is found at the end of each of the curses in Deut 27 where the people express their agreement with the appropriateness of the curse for the offense mentioned.
7 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.
sn The shift here is consistent with the interruptions that have taken place in chapters 14 and 15 and in Jeremiah’s response to God’s condemnation of the people of Judah’s idolatry in chapter 10 (note especially vv. 6-16).
8 tn Heb “O
9 tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”
sn This passage offers some rather forceful contrasts. The
10 tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.
11 tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.
12 tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”
sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.
13 tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.
14 tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”
15 tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.
16 tn The words “And I will reply” are not in the text but the words vv. 8-9 appear to be the answer to the petition at the end of v. 7. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb 34:1 “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
20 tn Heb “Oracle of the
21 tn Or “to ask me what will happen.” The dominant usage of the verb דָּרַשׁ (darash) is to “inquire” in the sense of gaining information about what will happen (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 14:5; 2 Kgs 8:8; 22:7-8) but it is also used in the sense of “seeking help” from (cf., e.g., Isa 31:1; 2 Chr 16:12; 20:3). The latter nuance appears appropriate in Jer 20:2 where Zedekiah is hoping for some miraculous intervention. That nuance also appears appropriate here where Zedekiah has sent messengers to ask Jeremiah to intercede on their behalf. However, it is also possible that the intent of both verbs is to find out from God whether the Egyptian mission will succeed and more permanent relief from the siege will be had.
22 tn Heb “will go back to its land, Egypt.”
23 tn The words “so as to give them some assurance of safety” are not in the text but are generally understood by all commentators. This would be a case of substitution of cause for effect, the oath, put for the effect, the assurance of safety (NJPS translates directly “reassured them”).
24 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
25 tn Heb “But there were ten men found among them and they said.” However, for the use of “were found” = “be, happened to be” see BDB 594 s.v. מָצָא 2.c and compare the usage in 41:3.
26 tn This sentence is a good example of the elliptical nature of some of the causal connections in the Hebrew Bible. All the Hebrew says literally is “For we have hidden stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey in a field.” However, it is obvious that they are using this as their bargaining chip to prevent Ishmael and his men from killing them. For the use of “for” (כִּי, ki) for such elliptical thoughts see BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c.
27 tn Or “So he refrained from killing them”; Heb “he refrained and did not kill them.”
28 tn Heb “in the midst of their brothers/fellow countrymen.”
29 tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”
30 tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”
31 tn Heb “Station the guards.”
32 tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”
sn The commands are here addressed to the kings of the Medes to fully blockade the city by posting watchmen and setting men in ambush to prevent people from escaping from the city (cf. 2 Kgs 25:4).
33 tn Heb “For the