Jeremiah 5:14

5:14 Because of that, 1  the Lord, the God who rules over all, 2  said to me, 3 

“Because these people have spoken 4  like this, 5 

I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.

And I will make this people like wood

which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” 6 

Jeremiah 50:14

50:14 “Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,

all you soldiers who are armed with bows. 7 

Shoot 8  all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! 9 

For she has sinned against the Lord.

1 tn Heb “Therefore.”

2 tn Heb “The Lord God of armies.” See the translator’s note at 2:19.

sn Here the emphasis appears to be on the fact that the Lord is in charge of the enemy armies whom he will use to punish Israel for their denial of his prior warnings through the prophets.

3 tn The words, “to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.

4 tn Heb “you have spoken.” The text here דַּבֶּרְכֶם (dabberkhem, “you have spoken”) is either a case of a scribal error for דַּבֶּרָם (dabberam, “they have spoken”) or an example of the rapid shift in addressee which is common in Jeremiah.

5 tn Heb “this word.”

6 tn Heb “like wood and it [i.e., the fire I put in your mouth] will consume them.”

7 tn Heb “all you who draw the bow.”

8 tc The verb here should probably be read as a Qal imperative יְרוּ (yÿru) from יָרָה (yarah) with a few Hebrew mss rather than a Qal imperative יְדוּ (yidu) from יָדָה (yadah) with the majority of Hebrew mss. The verb יָדָה (yadah) does not otherwise occur in the Qal and only elsewhere in the Piel with a meaning “cast” (cf. KBL 363 s.v. I יָדָה). The verb יָרָה (yarah) is common in both the Qal and the Hiphil with the meaning of shooting arrows (cf. BDB 435 s.v. יָרָה Qal.3 and Hiph.2). The confusion between ד (dalet) and ר (resh) is very common.

9 tn Heb “Shoot at her! Don’t save any arrows!”