10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.
They cannot talk.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them
because they cannot hurt you.
And they do not have any power to help you.” 5
30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servants. 6
Do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from a faraway land where you are captives. 7
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them. 8
46:27 11 “You descendants of Jacob, my servants, 12 do not be afraid;
do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from the faraway lands where you are captives. 13
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them.
46:28 I, the Lord, tell 14 you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servant,
for I am with you.
Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.
I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” 15
51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid
because of the reports that are heard in the land.
For a report will come in one year.
Another report will follow it in the next.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler fighting against ruler.”
1 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew
2 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
3 tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”
6 tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the
7 tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”
8 sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.
9 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”).
10 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
11 sn Jer 46:27-28 are virtually the same as 30:10-11. The verses are more closely related to that context than to this. But the presence of a note of future hope for the Egyptians may have led to a note of encouragement also to the Judeans who were under threat of judgment at the same time (cf. the study notes on 46:2, 13 and 25:1-2 for the possible relative dating of these prophecies).
12 tn Heb “And/But you do not be afraid, my servant Jacob.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.
13 tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”
14 tn Heb “Oracle of the
15 tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.