6:20 I take no delight 1 when they offer up to me 2
frankincense that comes from Sheba
or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.
I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.
I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ 3
7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah, 4 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 5 says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! 6
11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, 7 planted you in the land, 8
I now decree that disaster will come on you 9
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” 10
18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me
and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!
This makes them stumble along in the way they live
and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. 12
They have left them to walk in bypaths,
in roads that are not smooth and level. 13
1 tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
2 tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.
4 tn The words “The
5 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3.
6 tn Heb “Add your burnt offerings to your [other] sacrifices and eat the meat!” See the following sn for explanation. This is an example of the rhetorical use of the imperative for a sarcastic challenge. Cf. GKC 324 §110.a; cf. Amos 4:4, “Go to Bethel and sin!”
sn All of the burnt offering, including the meat, was to be consumed on the altar (e.g., Lev 1:6-9). The meat of the other sacrifices could be eaten by the priest who offered the sacrifice and the person who brought it (e.g., Lev 7:16-18, 32). Since, however, the people of Judah were making a mockery of the sacrificial system by offering sacrifices while disobeying the law, the
7 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
8 tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.
9 tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term
10 tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
11 tn Heb “There will come from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem and from…those bringing…incense and those bringing thank offerings.” This sentence has been restructured from a long complex original to conform to contemporary English style.
12 sn Heb “the ancient path.” This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another “old way” but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).
13 sn Heb “ways that are not built up.” This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms “way,” “by-paths,” “roads” are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.
14 tn The text merely has “they.” But since a reference is made later to “they” and “their ancestors,” the referent must be to the people that the leaders of the people and leaders of the priests represent.
15 sn Heb “have made this city foreign.” The verb here is one that is built off of the noun and adjective which relate to foreign nations. Comparison may be made to Jer 2:21 where the adjective refers to the strange, wild vine as opposed to the choice vine the
16 tn Heb “fathers.”
17 tn Heb “the blood of innocent ones.” This must be a reference to child sacrifice as explained in the next verse. Some have seen a reference to the sins of social injustice alluded to in 2 Kgs 21:16 and 24:4 but those are connected with the city itself. Hence the word children is supplied in the translation to make the referent explicit.
18 tn The word “here” is not in the text. However, it is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 tn The words “such sacrifices” are not in the text. The text merely says “to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal which I did not command.” The command obviously refers not to the qualification “to Baal” but to burning the children in the fire as burnt offerings. The words are supplied in the translation to avoid a possible confusion that the reference is to sacrifices to Baal. Likewise the words should not be translated so literally that they leave the impression that God never said anything about sacrificing their children to other gods. The fact is he did. See Lev 18:21; Deut 12:30; 18:10.
20 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
21 sn Compare Jer 19:13.
22 tn The words “to other gods” are not in the text but are implicit from the context (cf. v. 17). They are supplied in the translation for clarity. It was not the act of sacrifice that was wrong but the recipient.
23 tn Heb “The sacrifices which you sacrificed in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders and the people of the land, did not the