Jeremiah 7:13

7:13 You also have done all these things, says the Lord, and I have spoken to you over and over again. ¹  But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent! ² 

Jeremiah 11:16

11:16 I, the Lord, once called ³  you a thriving olive tree,

one that produced beautiful fruit.

But I will set you ⁴  on fire,

fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. ⁵ 

Then all your branches will be good for nothing. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 19:14

19:14 Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood ⁷  in its courtyard and called out to all the people.

Jeremiah 30:17

30:17 Yes, ⁸  I will restore you to health.

I will heal your wounds.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁹ 

For you have been called an outcast,

Zion, whom no one cares for.”

Jeremiah 52:17

52:17 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the Lord, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the “The Sea.” ¹⁰  They took all the bronze to Babylon.

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¹ tn This reflects a Hebrew idiom (e.g., 7:25; 11:7; 25:3, 4), i.e., an infinitive of a verb meaning “to do something early [or eagerly]” followed by an infinitive of another verb of action. Cf. HALOT 1384 s.v. שָׁכַם Hiph.2.

² tn Heb “I called to you and you did not answer.” The words “to repent” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “The Lord once called you….” This is another example of the rapid shift in person that is common to Hebrew style which is not common in English and could lead to confusion for some readers. Here and in the verses that follow the person has been shifted to first person for consistency in English.

⁴ tn The verb form used here is another example of a verb expressing that the action is as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

⁵ tn Heb “At the sound of a mighty roar he will set fire to it.” For the shift from third person “he” to the first person “I” see the preceding note. The Hebrew use of the pronouns in vv. 16-17 for the olive tree and the people that it represents is likely to cause confusion if retained. In v. 16 the people are “you” and the olive tree is “it.” The people are again “you” in v. 17 but part of the metaphor is carried over, i.e., “he ‘planted’ you.” It creates less confusion in the flow of the passage if the metaphorical identification is carried out throughout by addressing the people/plant as “you.”

⁶ tn The verb here has most commonly been derived from a root meaning “to be broken” (cf. BDB 949 s.v. II רָעַע) which fits poorly with the metaphor of setting the plant on fire. Another common option is to emend it to a verb meaning “to be burned up” (בָּעַר, ba’ar). However, it is better to follow the lead of the Greek version which translates “be good for nothing” (ἠχρειώθησαν, hcreiwqhsan) and derive the verb from רָעַע (ra’a’) meaning “be bad/evil” (cf. BDB 949 and compare the nuance of the adjective from this verb in BDB 948 s.v. רַע 5).

⁷ tn Heb “And Jeremiah entered from Topheth where the Lord had sent him to prophesy and he stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.”

⁸ tn Again the particle כִּי (ki) appears to be intensive rather than causal. Compare the translator’s note on v. 12. It is possible that it has an adversative sense as an implicit contrast with v. 13 which expresses these concepts in the negative (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e for this use in statements which are contextually closer to one another).

⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁰ sn For discussion of the items listed here, see the study notes at Jer 27:19.