Jeremiah 25:4-6

25:4 Over and over again ¹  the Lord has sent ²  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ³  25:5 He said through them, ⁴  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ⁵  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ⁶  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ⁷  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ⁸  Then I will not cause you any harm.’

---

¹ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

² tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

³ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

⁴ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

⁵ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

⁶ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

⁷ tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

⁸ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.