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
9:20 I said, 8
“So now, 9 you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. 10
Open your ears to the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters this mournful song,
and each of you teach your neighbor 11 this lament.
20:16 May that man be like the cities 14
that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy.
May he hear a cry of distress in the morning
and a battle cry at noon.
23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle 15
so they 16 could see and hear what he has to say? 17
Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?
30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving 18
and the sounds of laughter and merriment.
I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. 19
I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.
31:10 Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations.
Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.
Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them.
He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”
46:12 The nations will hear of your devastating defeat. 23
your cries of distress will echo throughout the earth.
In the panic of their flight one soldier will trip over another
and both of them will fall down defeated.” 24
47:3 Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies’ horses,
the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels.
They will not turn back to save their children
because they will be paralyzed with fear. 25
48:5 Indeed they will climb the slopes of Luhith,
weeping continually as they go. 26
For on the road down to Horonaim
they will hear the cries of distress over the destruction. 27
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 The words “I said” are not in the text. The text merely has “Indeed, yes.” The words are supplied in the translation to indicate that the speaker is still Jeremiah though he now is not talking about the mourning woman but is talking to them. See the notes on 9:17-18 for further explanation.
9 tn It is a little difficult to explain how the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here. W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:311) may be correct in seeing it as introducing the contents of what those who call for the mourning women are to say. In this case, Jeremiah picks up the task as representative of the people.
10 tn Heb “Listen to the word of the
sn In this context the “word of the
11 tn Heb “Teach…mournful song, and each woman her neighbor lady…”
12 sn See 6:16-20 for parallels.
13 tn Heb “through sword, starvation, and plague.”
sn These were penalties (curses) that were to be imposed on Israel for failure to keep her covenant with God (cf. Lev 26:23-26). These three occur together fourteen other times in the book of Jeremiah.
14 sn The cities alluded to are Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the Jordan plain which had become proverbial for their wickedness and for the destruction that the
15 tn Or “has been the
sn The
16 tn The form here is a jussive with a vav of subordination introducing a purpose after a question (cf. GKC 322 §109.f).
17 tc Heb “his word.” In the second instance (“what he has said” at the end of the verse) the translation follows the suggestion of the Masoretes (Qere) and many Hebrew
18 tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”
19 sn Compare Jer 29:6.
20 tn Heb “see [or experience] war.”
21 tn Heb “hear the sound of the trumpet.” The trumpet was used to gather the troops and to sound the alarm for battle.
22 tn Jer 42:13-14 are a long complex condition (protasis) whose consequence (apodosis) does not begin until v. 15. The Hebrew text of vv. 13-14 reads: 42:13 “But if you say [or continue to say (the form is a participle)], ‘We will not stay in this land’ with the result that you do not obey [or “more literally, do not hearken to the voice of] the
23 tn Heb “of your shame.” The “shame,” however, applies to the devastating defeat they will suffer.
24 tn The words “In the panic of their flight” and “defeated” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor for the average reader. The verbs in this verse are all in the tense that emphasizes that the action is viewed as already having been accomplished (i.e., the Hebrew prophetic perfect). This is consistent with the vav consecutive perfects in v. 10 which look to the future.
25 tn Heb “From the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the rattling of his chariots at the rumbling of their wheels, fathers will not turn to their children from sinking of hands.” According to BDB 952 s.v. רִפָּיוֹן the “sinking of the hands” is figurative of helplessness caused by terror. A very similar figure is seen with a related expression in Isa 35:3-4. The sentence has been restructured to put the subject up front and to suggest through shorter sentences more in keeping with contemporary English style the same causal connections. The figures have been interpreted for the sake of clarity for the average reader.
26 tn Or “Indeed her fugitives will…” It is unclear what the subject of the verbs are in this verse. The verb in the first two lines “climb” (יַעֲלֶה, ya’aleh) is third masculine singular and the verb in the second two lines “will hear” (שָׁמֵעוּ, shame’u) is third common plural. The causal particles at the beginning of the two halves of the verse suggest some connection with the preceding, so the translation assumes that the children are still the subject. In this case the singular verb would be a case of the distributive singular already referred to in the translator’s note on 46:15. The parallel passage in Isa 15:5 refers to the “fugitives” (בְּרִיחֶהָ, bÿrikheha) with the same singular verb as here and that may be the implied subject here.
sn The location of Luhith and Horonaim are uncertain, though, from their connection with Zoar in Isa 15:5, they appear to be located in southern Moab. Zoar was at the southern tip of the Dead Sea.
27 tn Heb “the distresses of the cry of destruction.” Many commentaries want to leave out the word “distresses” because it is missing from the Greek version and the parallel passage in Isa 15:5. However, it is in all the Hebrew