3:22 Come back to me, you wayward people.
I want to cure your waywardness. 3
Say, 4 ‘Here we are. We come to you
because you are the Lord our God.
4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, 5
“The whole land will be desolate;
however, I will not completely destroy it.
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people 6 are being crushed. 7
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. 8
9:13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws. 9
13:25 This is your fate,
the destiny to which I have appointed you,
because you have forgotten me
and have trusted in false gods.
14:6 Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops
and pant for breath like jackals.
Their eyes are strained looking for food,
because there is none to be found.” 10
15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, 11
and they filled my heart with joy and happiness
because I belong to you. 12
37:11 The following events also occurred 13 while the Babylonian forces 14 had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem 15 because the army of Pharaoh was coming.
51:51 ‘We 21 are ashamed because we have been insulted. 22
Our faces show our disgrace. 23
For foreigners have invaded
the holy rooms 24 in the Lord’s temple.’
1 tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.
2 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
3 tn Or “I will forgive your apostasies.” Heb “I will [or want to] heal your apostasies.” For the use of the verb “heal” (רָפָא, rafa’) to refer to spiritual healing and forgiveness see Hos 14:4.
4 tn Or “They say.” There is an obvious ellipsis of a verb of saying here since the preceding words are those of the
5 tn Heb “For this is what the
6 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
7 tn Heb “Because of the crushing of the daughter of my people I am crushed.”
8 tn Heb “I go about in black [i.e., mourning clothes]. Dismay has seized me.”
9 tn Heb “and they have not walked in it (with “it” referring to “my law”).
10 tn Heb “their eyes are strained because there is no verdure.”
11 sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.
12 tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”
sn See Jer 14:9 where this idiom is applied to Israel as a whole and Jer 7:10 where it is applied to the temple. For discussion cf. notes on 7:10.
13 tn The words “The following events also occurred” are not in the text. They are a way to introduce the incidents recorded in 37:11-21 without creating a long complex sentence in English like the Hebrew does. The Hebrew of vv. 11-12a reads “And it was/happened while the army of the Chaldeans had taken themselves up from against Jerusalem, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to take part…” For the rendering “temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem” see the translator’s note on v. 5. The words “was coming” are not in the text either but are implicit and have been supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English expression.
14 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.
15 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
16 sn Heb “you will not fall by the sword.” In the context this would include death in battle and execution as a prisoner of war.
17 tn Heb “your life will be to you for spoil.” For the meaning of this idiom see the study note on 21:9 and compare the usage in 21:9; 38:2; 45:4.
18 tn Heb “Oracle of the
19 tn Heb “this thing.”
20 tn Heb “is false” or “is a lie.”
21 sn The exiles lament the way they have been humiliated.
22 tn Heb “we have heard an insult.”
23 tn Heb “disgrace covers our face.”
24 tn Or “holy places, sanctuaries.”