6:10 I answered, 1
“Who would listen
if I spoke to them and warned them? 2
Their ears are so closed 3
that they cannot hear!
Indeed, 4 what the Lord says is offensive to them.
They do not like it at all. 5
7:27 Then the Lord said to me, 9 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you.
10:22 Listen! News is coming even now. 13
The rumble of a great army is heard approaching 14 from a land in the north. 15
It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,
places where only jackals live.
11:6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you 16 and carry them out!
21:13 Listen, you 18 who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau.
I am opposed to you,’ 19 says the Lord. 20
‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us.
No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” 21
22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. 22
But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”
That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. 23
Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.
44:24 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, particularly to all the women. 37 “Listen to what the Lord has to say all you people of Judah who are in Egypt.
50:28 Listen! Fugitives and refugees are coming from the land of Babylon.
They are coming to Zion to declare there
how the Lord our God is getting revenge,
getting revenge for what they have done to his temple. 38
50:31 “Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” 39
says the Lord God who rules over all. 40
“Indeed, 41 your day of reckoning 42 has come,
the time when I will punish you. 43
1 tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”
3 tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”
4 tn Heb “Behold!”
5 tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”
6 tn Heb “Proclaim there…” The adverb is unnecessary in English style.
7 sn That is, all those who have passed through the gates of the outer court and are standing in the courtyard of the temple.
8 tn Or “They went backward and not forward”; Heb “They were to the backward and not to the forward.” The two phrases used here appear nowhere else in the Bible and the latter preposition plus adverb elsewhere is used temporally meaning “formerly” or “previously.” The translation follows the proposal of J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 57. Another option is “they turned their backs to me, not their faces,” understanding the line as a variant of a line in 2:27.
9 tn The words, “Then the
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
sn See the study notes on 2:9 and 7:3.
11 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
12 tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.
13 tn Heb “The sound of a report, behold, it is coming.”
14 tn Heb “ coming, even a great quaking.”
15 sn Compare Jer 6:22.
16 tn Heb “the terms of this covenant.” However, this was a separate message and the ambiguity of “this” could still cause some confusion.
17 tn Heb “Therefore, thus, says the
18 tn Or “Listen, Jerusalem, you…”; Heb text of v. 21a-b reads, “Behold I am against you [fem. sg.], O inhabitant [fem. sg.] of the valley [and of] the rock of the plain, oracle of the
19 tn Heb “I am against you.”
20 tn Heb “oracle of the
21 tn Heb “Who can swoop…Who can penetrate…?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. They are rendered as negative affirmations for clarity.
sn What is being expressed here is the belief in the inviolability of Zion/Jerusalem carried to its extreme. Signal deliverances of Jerusalem such as those experienced under Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 20) and Hezekiah (Isa 37:36-37) in the context of promises to protect it (Isa 31:4-5; 37:33-35; 38:6) led to a belief that Zion was unconquerable. This belief found expression in several of Israel’s psalms (Pss 46, 48, 76) and led to the mistaken assumption that God would protect it regardless of how the people treated God or one another. Micah and Jeremiah both deny that (cf. Mic 3:8-12; Jer 21:13-14).
22 tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.
23 tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.
24 tn The words “Don’t listen to them” have been repeated from v. 9a to pick up the causal connection between v. 9a and v. 10 that is formally introduced by a causal particle in v. 10 in the original text.
25 tn Heb “they are prophesying a lie.”
26 tn Heb “lies will result in your being taken far…” (לְמַעַן [lÿma’an] + infinitive). This is a rather clear case of the particle לְמַעַן introducing result (contra BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. There is no irony in this statement; it is a bold prediction).
27 tn The words “out of your country” are not in the text but are implicit in the meaning of the verb. The words “in exile” are also not in the text but are implicit in the context. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.” Compare the same idiom in 2:27.
29 tn For the idiom involved here see the translator’s note on 7:13. The verb that introduces this clause is a Piel infinitive absolute which is functioning in place of the finite verb (see, e.g., GKC 346 §113.ff and compare usage in Jer 8:15; 14:19. This grammatical point means that the versions cited in BHS fn a may not be reading a different text after all, but may merely be interpreting the form as syntactically equivalent to a finite verb as the present translation has done.).
sn This refers to God teaching them through the prophets whom he has sent as indicated by the repeated use of this idiom elsewhere in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5, 19.
30 tn Heb “But they were not listening so as to accept correction.”
31 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
32 tn Heb “My lord, the king.”
33 tn Heb “let my plea for mercy fall before you.” I.e., let it come before you and be favorably received (= granted; by metonymical extension).
34 tn Or “So that I will not die there,” or “or I will die there”; Heb “and I will not die there.” The particle that introduces this clause (וְלֹא) regularly introduces negative purpose clauses after the volitive sequence (אַל [’al] + jussive here) according to GKC 323 §109.g. However, purpose and result clauses in Hebrew (and Greek) are often indistinguishable. Here the clause is more in the nature of a negative result.
35 tn There appears to be a deliberate shift in the pronouns used in vv. 2-5. “You” refers to the people living in Egypt who are being addressed (v. 2) and to the people of present and past generations to whom the
36 tn Heb “They did not listen or incline their ear [= pay attention] by turning from their wickedness by not sacrificing to other gods.” The לְ (lamed) + the negative + the infinitive is again epexegetical. The sentence has been restructured and more idiomatic English expressions have been used to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to retain the basic relationships of subordination.
37 tn Heb “and to all the women.” The “and” (ו, vav) is to be explained here according to BDB 252 s.v. וַ 1.a. The focus of the address that follows is on the women. See the translator’s note on the next verse.
38 tn Heb “Hark! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon to declare in Zion the vengeance of the
sn This verse appears to be a parenthetical exclamation of the prophet in the midst of his report of what the
39 tn Heb “Behold, I am against you, proud one.” The word “city” is not in the text but it is generally agreed that the word is being used as a personification of the city which had “proudly defied” the
40 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord Yahweh of armies.” For the rendering of this title and an explanation of its significance see the study note on 2:19.
41 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is probably asseverative here (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 739, n. 13, and cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e for other examples). This has been a common use of this particle in the book of Jeremiah.
42 tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
43 sn Compare v. 27.