Jeremiah 4:25

4:25 I looked and saw that there were no more people, ¹ 

and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

Jeremiah 7:26

7:26 But your ancestors ²  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ³  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Jeremiah 23:21

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ⁴ 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

Jeremiah 25:2

25:2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 28:5

28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the Lord’s temple.

Jeremiah 32:11

32:11 There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase. ⁶  The other was left unsealed.

Jeremiah 41:3

41:3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans ⁷  who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian ⁸  soldiers who happened to be there. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 41:11

Johanan Rescues the People Ishmael Had Carried Off

41:11 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the atrocities ¹⁰  that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed.

Jeremiah 41:13

41:13 When all the people that Ishmael had taken captive saw ¹¹  Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad.

Jeremiah 42:8

42:8 So Jeremiah summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people of every class. ¹² 

Jeremiah 52:32

52:32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than ¹³  the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

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¹ tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”

² tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.

³ tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”

⁴ tn Heb “Yet they ran.”

sn The image is that of a messenger bearing news from the king. See 2 Sam 18:19-24; Jer 51:31; Isa 40:9; 52:7; Hab 2:2 (the tablet/scroll bore the message the runner was to read to the intended recipients of his message). Their message has been given in v. 17 (see notes there for cross references).

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁶ tn There is some uncertainty about the precise meaning of the phrases translated “the order of transfer and the regulations.” The translation follows the interpretation suggested by J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 237; J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 586, n. 5; and presumably BDB 349 s.v. חֹק 7, which defines the use of חֹק (khoq) here as “conditions of the deed of purchase.”

⁷ sn All the Judeans. This can scarcely refer to all the Judeans who had rallied around Gedaliah at Mizpah because v. 10 later speaks of Ishmael carrying off “the rest of the people who were at Mizpah.” Probably what is meant is “all the Judeans and Babylonian soldiers” that were also at the meal. It is possible that this meal was intended to seal a covenant between Gedaliah and Ishmael of Ishmael’s allegiance to Gedaliah and his Babylonian overlords (cf. Gen 26:30-31; 31:53-54; Exod 24:11). In any case, this act of treachery and deceit was an extreme violation of the customs of hospitality practiced in the ancient Near East.

⁸ tn Heb “Chaldean.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation. There are two cases of apposition with the repetition of the preposition or of the sign of the accusative in this verse, e.g., “who were with him, [namely] with Gedaliah” and “all the Chaldeans who happened to be there, [namely] the soldiers.”

⁹ tn Heb “were found there.” For this nuance of the verb see BDB 594 s.v. מָצָא Niph.2.c.

¹⁰ tn Or “crimes,” or “evil things”; Heb “the evil.”

¹¹ tn Heb “all the people who were with Ishmael.” However, this does not refer to his own troops but to those he had taken with him from Mizpah, i.e., the captives. The phrase is specifically clarified in the next verse, i.e. “the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah.” Hence the phrase is translated here according to sense, not according to the literal wording.

¹² tn Or “without distinction,” or “All the people from the least important to the most important”; Heb “from the least to the greatest.” This is a figure of speech that uses polar opposites as an all-inclusive designation of everyone without exception (i.e., it included all the people from the least important or poorest to the most important or richest.)

¹³ tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of