Jeremiah 6:19

6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth:¹

‘Take note!² I am about to bring disaster on these people.

It will come as punishment for their scheming.³

For they have paid no attention to what I have said,⁴

and they have rejected my law.

Jeremiah 25:29

25:29 For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own.⁵ So how can you possibly avoid being punished?⁶ You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all,⁷ affirm it!’⁸

Jeremiah 26:15

26:15 But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!”⁹

Jeremiah 31:21

31:21 I will say,¹⁰ ‘My dear children of Israel,¹¹ keep in mind

the road you took when you were carried off.¹²

Mark off in your minds the landmarks.

Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back.

Return, my dear children of Israel.

Return to these cities of yours.

¹tn Heb “earth.”

²tn Heb “Behold!”

³tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”

⁴tn Heb “my word.”

⁵tn Heb “which is called by my name.” See translator’s note on 7:10 for support.

⁶tn This is an example of a question without the formal introductory particle following a conjunctive vav introducing an opposition. (See Joüon 2:609 §161.a.) It is also an example of the use of the infinitive before the finite verb in a rhetorical question involving doubt or denial. (See Joüon 2:422-23 §123.f, and compare usage in Gen 37:8.)

⁷tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this extended title.

⁸tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.”

⁹tn Heb “For in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak in your ears all these words/things.”

¹⁰tn The words “I will say” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to mark the transition from the address about Israel in a response to Rachel’s weeping (vv. 15-20) to a direct address to Israel which is essentially the answer to Israel’s prayer of penitence (cf. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 121.)

sn The Lord here invites Israel to stop dilly-dallying and prepare themselves to return because he is prepared to do something new and miraculous.

¹¹tn Heb “Virgin Israel.” For the significance see the study note on 31:3.

¹²tn Heb “Set your mind to the highway, the way which you went.” The phrase “the way you went” has been translated “the road you took when you were carried off” to help the reader see the reference to the exile implicit in the context. The verb “which you went” is another example of the old second feminine singular which the Masoretes typically revocalize (Kethib הָלָכְתִּי [halakhti]; Qere הָלָכְתְּ [halakht]). The vocative has been supplied in the translation at the beginning to help make the transition from third person reference to Ephraim/Israel in the preceding to second person in the following and to identify the referent of the imperatives. Likewise, this line has been moved to the front to show that the reference to setting up sign posts and landmarks is not literal but figurative, referring to making a mental note of the way they took when carried off so that they can easily find their way back. Lines three and four in the Hebrew text read, “Set up sign posts for yourself; set up guideposts/landmarks for yourself.” The word translated “telltale signs marking the way” occurs only here. Though its etymology and precise meaning are unknown, all the lexicons agree in translating it as “sign post” or something similar based on the parallelism.