Jeremiah 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, 1 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. 2 

Let us at least die there fighting, 3 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment 4 

because we have sinned against him. 5 

Jeremiah 29:15

29:15 “You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news 6  for us here in Babylon.’

Jeremiah 42:6

42:6 We will obey what the Lord our God to whom we are sending you tells us to do. It does not matter whether we like what he tells us or not. We will obey what he tells us to do so that things will go well for us.” 7 

Jeremiah 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! 8 

1 tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

2 tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

3 tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

4 tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

5 tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

6 tn The words “of good news” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

7 tn Heb “Whether good or whether evil we will hearken to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you in order that it may go well for us because/when we hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.” The phrase “whether good or whether evil” is an abbreviated form of the idiomatic expressions “to be good in the eyes of” = “to be pleasing to” (BDB 374 s.v. טוֹב 2.f and see 1 Kgs 21:2) and “to be bad in the eyes of” = “to be displeasing to” (BDB 948 s.v. רַע 3 and see Num 22:34). The longer Hebrew sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

8 tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.