9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! 1 The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. 2
20:8 For whenever I prophesy, 6 I must cry out, 7
“Violence and destruction are coming!” 8
This message from the Lord 9 has made me
an object of continual insults and derision.
31:6 Yes, a time is coming
when watchmen 10 will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,
“Come! Let us go to Zion
to worship the Lord our God!”’” 11
31:27 “Indeed, a time is coming,” 12 says the Lord, 13 “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. 14
31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, 15 “when I will make a new covenant 16 with the people of Israel and Judah. 17
37:11 The following events also occurred 18 while the Babylonian forces 19 had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem 20 because the army of Pharaoh was coming.
1 tn Heb “Behold!”
2 tn Heb “punish all who are circumcised in the flesh.” The translation is contextually motivated to better bring out the contrast that follows.
3 tn Heb “There will be no survivors for/among them.”
4 tn Heb “the men of Anathoth.” For the rationale for adding the qualification see the notes on v. 21.
5 tn Heb “I will bring disaster on…, the year of their punishment.”
6 tn Heb “speak,” but the speaking is in the context of speaking as a prophet.
7 tn Heb “I cry out, I proclaim.”
8 tn Heb “Violence and destruction.”
sn The words “Violence and destruction…” are a synopsis of his messages of judgment. Jeremiah is lamenting that his ministry up to this point has been one of judgment and has brought him nothing but ridicule because the
9 tn Heb “the word of the
10 sn Watchmen were stationed at vantage points to pass on warning of coming attack (Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:2, 6) or to spread the news of victory (Isa 52:8). Here reference is made to the watchmen who signaled the special times of the year such as the new moon and festival times when Israel was to go to Jerusalem to worship. Reference is not made to these in the Hebrew Bible but there is a good deal of instruction regarding them in the later Babylonian Talmud.
11 sn Not only will Israel and Judah be reunited under one ruler (cf. 23:5-6), but they will share a unified place and practice of worship once again in contrast to Israel using the illicit places of worship, illicit priesthood, and illicit feasts instituted by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:26-31) and continued until the downfall of Samaria in 722
12 tn Heb “Behold days are coming!” The particle “Behold” is probably used here to emphasize the reality of a fact. See the translator’s note on 1:6.
sn This same expression is found in the introduction to the Book of Consolation (Jer 30:1-3) and in the introduction to the promise of a new covenant (or covenant; 31:31). In all three passages it is emphasized that the conditions apply to both Israel and Judah. The
13 tn Heb “Oracle of the
14 tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming and [= when] I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and of animals.” For the significance of the metaphor see the study note.
sn The metaphor used here presupposes that drawn in Hos 2:23 (2:25 HT) which is in turn based on the wordplay with Jezreel (meaning “God sows”) in Hos 2:22. The figure is that of plant seed in the ground which produces a crop; here what are sown are the “seeds of people and animals.” For a similar picture of the repopulating of Israel and Judah see Ezek 36:10-11. The promise here reverses the scene of devastation that Jeremiah had depicted apocalyptically and hyperbolically in Jer 4:23-29 as judgment for Judah’s sins.
15 tn Heb “Oracle of the
16 tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).
17 tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
18 tn The words “The following events also occurred” are not in the text. They are a way to introduce the incidents recorded in 37:11-21 without creating a long complex sentence in English like the Hebrew does. The Hebrew of vv. 11-12a reads “And it was/happened while the army of the Chaldeans had taken themselves up from against Jerusalem, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to take part…” For the rendering “temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem” see the translator’s note on v. 5. The words “was coming” are not in the text either but are implicit and have been supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English expression.
19 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.
20 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.