Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ¹ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ² 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ³ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 45:5

45:5 Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the Lord, affirm ⁵  that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. ⁶  But I will allow you to escape with your life ⁷  wherever you go.”’”

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¹ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

² tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

³ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

⁴ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

⁵ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

⁶ sn Compare Jer 25:31, 33. The reference here to universal judgment also forms a nice transition to the judgments on the nations that follow in Jer 46-51 which may be another reason for the placement of this chapter here, out of its normal chronological order (see also the study note on v. 1).

⁷ tn Heb “I will give you your life for a spoil.” For this idiom see the translator’s note on 21:9 and compare the usage in 21:9; 38:2; 39:18.