14:20 Lord, we confess that we have been wicked.
We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. 12
We have indeed 13 sinned against you.
1 tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.
2 tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”
3 tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”
4 tn Heb “For” but this introduces a long explanation about the relative importance of sacrifice and obedience.
5 tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”
6 tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.
7 tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).
8 tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.
9 tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”
10 tn Heb “warned them…saying, ‘Obey me.’” However, it allows the long sentence to be broken up easier if the indirect quote is used.
11 tn For the explanation for this rendering see the note on 7:13.
12 tn Heb “We acknowledge our wickedness [and] the iniquity of our [fore]fathers.” For the use of the word “know” to mean “confess,” “acknowledge” cf. BDB 394 s.v. יָדַע, Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 3:13.
sn For a longer example of an individual identifying with the nation and confessing their sins and the sins of their forefathers see Ps 106.
13 tn This is another example of the intensive use of כִּי (ki). See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.
14 sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.
15 tn Heb “They.” The antecedent is spelled out to avoid any possible confusion.
16 tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”
17 sn See Jer 14:12 and the study note there.
18 tn Heb “fathers.”
19 tn Heb “fathers.”
20 tn For an alternative translation of the expression “a land flowing with milk and honey” see the translator’s note on 11:5.
21 tn Heb “they” but as H. Freedman (Jeremiah [SoBB], 284) notes the third person is used here to include the people just referred to as well as the current addressees. Hence “your people” or “the people of Judah.” It is possible that the third person again reflects the rhetorical distancing that was referred to earlier in 35:16 (see the translator’s note there for explanation) in which case one might translate “you have shown,” and “you have not revered.”
22 tn Heb “to set before.” According to BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.b(g) this refers to “propounding to someone for acceptance or choice.” This is clearly the usage in Deut 30:15, 19; Jer 21:8 and is likely the case here. However, to translate literally would not be good English idiom and “proposed to” might not be correctly understood, so the basic translation of נָתַן (natan) has been used here.