Jeremiah 1:3
Context1:3 The Lord also spoke to him when Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled over Judah, and he continued to speak to him until the fifth month of the eleventh year 1 that Zedekiah son of Josiah ruled over Judah. That was when the people of Jerusalem 2 were taken into exile. 3
Jeremiah 13:16-17
Context13:16 Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. 4
Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. 5
Do it before you stumble 6 into distress
like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. 7
Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for
into the darkness and gloom of exile. 8
13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, 9
I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.
I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears 10
because you, the Lord’s flock, 11 will be carried 12 into exile.”
Jeremiah 22:28
Context22:28 This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away.
He will be like a clay vessel 13 that no one wants. 14
Why will he and his children be forced into exile?
Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? 15
Jeremiah 23:2
Context23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people 16 to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. 17 I, the Lord, affirm it! 18
Jeremiah 27:15
Context27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm 19 that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you 20 listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” 21
Jeremiah 28:6
Context28:6 The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.
Jeremiah 29:16
Context29:16 But just listen to what the Lord has to say about 22 the king who occupies David’s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem 23 and were not carried off into exile with you.
Jeremiah 29:18
Context29:18 I will chase after them with war, 24 starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.
Jeremiah 40:1
Context40:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah 25 after Nebuzaradan the captain of the royal guard had set him free at Ramah. 26 He had taken him there in chains 27 along with all the people from Jerusalem 28 and Judah who were being carried off to exile to Babylon.
Jeremiah 48:11
Context48:11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.
It has never been taken into exile.
Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,
never poured out from one jar to another.
They are like wine which tastes like it always did,
whose aroma has remained unchanged. 29
Jeremiah 49:3
Context49:3 Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed.
Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding 30 Rabbah.
Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning.
Run about covered with gashes. 31
For your god Milcom will go into exile
along with his priests and officials. 32
Jeremiah 52:31
Context52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth 33 day of the twelfth month, 34 Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned 35 King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.
1 sn This would have been August, 586
2 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
3 tn Heb “and it [the word of the
4 tn Heb “Give glory/respect to the
5 tn The words “of disaster” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to explain the significance of the metaphor to readers who may not be acquainted with the metaphorical use of light and darkness for salvation and joy and distress and sorrow respectively.
sn For the metaphorical use of these terms the reader should consult O. A. Piper, “Light, Light and Darkness,” IDB 3:130-32. For the association of darkness with the Day of the
6 tn Heb “your feet stumble.”
7 tn Heb “you stumble on the mountains at twilight.” The added words are again supplied in the translation to help explain the metaphor to the uninitiated reader.
8 tn Heb “and while you hope for light he will turn it into deep darkness and make [it] into gloom.” The meaning of the metaphor is again explained through the addition of the “of” phrases for readers who are unacquainted with the metaphorical use of these terms.
sn For the meaning and usage of the term “deep darkness” (צַלְמָוֶת, tsalmavet), see the notes on Jer 2:6. For the association of the term with exile see Isa 9:2 (9:1 HT). For the association of the word gloom with the Day of the
9 tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.
10 tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”
sn The depth of Jeremiah’s sorrow for the sad plight of his people, if they refuse to repent, is emphasized by the triple repetition of the word “tears” twice in an emphatic verbal expression (Hebrew infinitive before finite verb) and once in the noun.
11 tn Heb “because the
12 tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).
13 tn The word translated “clay vessel” occurs only here. Its meaning, however, is assured on the basis of the parallelism and on the basis of the verb root which is used for shaping or fashioning in Job 10:8. The KJV renders it as “idol,” but that word, while having the same consonants, never appears in the singular. The word is missing in the Greek version but is translated “vessel” in the Latin version. The word “clay” is supplied in the translation to clarify what sort of vessel is meant; its inclusion is justified based on the context and the use of the same verb root in Job 10:8 to refer to shaping or fashioning, which would imply clay pots or vessels.
14 tn Heb “Is this man, Coniah, a despised, broken vessel or a vessel that no one wants?” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer in agreement with the preceding oracle.
sn For the image of the rejected, broken vessel see Jer 19:1-13 (where, however, the vessel is rejected first and then broken) and compare also the image of the linen shorts which are good for nothing in Jer 13 (see especially vv. 10-11).
15 sn The question “Why?” is a common rhetorical feature in the book of Jeremiah. See Jer 2:14, 31; 8:5, 19, 22; 12:1; 13:22; 14:19. In several cases like this one no answer is given, leaving a sense of exasperation and hopelessness with the sinfulness of the nation that calls forth such punishment from God.
16 tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.
17 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
18 tn Heb “Oracle of the
19 tn Heb “oracle of the
20 sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.
21 tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”
sn For the fulfillment of this prophecy see Jer 39:5-7; 52:7-11; 2 Kgs 25:4-7.
22 tn Heb “But thus says the
sn Jeremiah answers their claims that the
23 tn The words “of Jerusalem” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and avoid the possible confusion that “this city” refers to Babylon.
24 tn Heb “with the sword.”
25 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
26 sn Some commentators see the account of Jeremiah’s release here in 40:1-6 as an alternate and contradictory account to that of Jeremiah’s release in 39:11-14. However, most commentators see them as complementary and sequential. Jeremiah had been released from the courtyard of the guardhouse on orders of the military tribunal there shortly after Nebuzaradan got to Jerusalem and passed on Nebuchadnezzar’s orders to them. He had been released to the custody of Gedaliah who was to take him back to the governor’s residence and look after him there. However, Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem among the people there. He was mistakenly rounded up with them and led off as a prisoner to be deported with the rest of the exiles. However, when he got to Ramah which was a staging area for deportees, Nebuzaradan recognized him among the prisoners and released him a second time.
27 tn Heb “when he took him and he was in chains.” The subject is probably Nebuzaradan or the indefinite third singular (GKC 460 §144.d). The Kethib of the word for בָּאזִקִּים (ba’ziqqim) is to be explained as a secondary formation with prosthetic א (aleph) from the normal word for “fetter” (זֵק, zeq) according to HALOT 27 s.v. אֲזִקִּים (see GKC 70 §19.m and 235-36 §85.b for the phenomenon).
28 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
29 tn Heb “Therefore his taste remains in him and his aroma is not changed.” The metaphor is changed into a simile in an attempt to help the reader understand the figure in the context.
sn The picture is that of undisturbed complacency (cf. Zeph 1:12). Because Moab had never known the discipline of exile she had remained as she always was.
30 tn Or “you women of Rabbah”; Heb “daughters of Rabbah.” It is difficult to tell whether the word “daughters” is used here in the same sense that it has in v. 2 (see the translator’s note there) or in the literal sense of “daughters.” The former has been preferred because the cities themselves (e.g., Heshbon) are called to wail in the earlier part of the verse and the term “daughters” has been used in the previous verse of the surrounding villages.
31 tc Or “Run back and forth inside the walls of your towns.” Or “slash yourselves with gashes.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The Hebrew text reads “run back and forth among the walls.” The word “run back and forth” is generally taken as a Hitpolel of a verb that means to “go about” in the Qal and to “go back and forth” in the Polel (cf. BDB 1002 s.v. I שׁוּט). The noun that follows in the Hebrew means “wall, hedge” and is quite commonly modified by the noun צֹאן (tso’n, “sheep”) referring to sheepfolds (cf., e.g., Num 32:36; 1 Sam 24:3). But the phrase “run back and forth among the sheepfolds” yields little meaning here. In Ps 89:40 (89:41 HT) the word “wall” is used in parallelism with fortified cities and refers to the walls of the city. That is the sense that is assumed in one of the alternate translations with the words “of your towns” being supplied in the translation for clarification. However, that figure is a little odd in a context which speaks of mourning rites. Hence, some emend the word “walls” (גְּדֵרוֹת, gÿderot) to “gashes” (גְּדֻדוֹת, gÿdudot), a word that has occurred in a similar context in Jer 48:37. That would involve only the common confusion of ר and ד. That is the reading adopted here and fits the context nicely. NRSV appears to go one step further and read the verb as a Hitpolel from a root that is otherwise used only as a noun to mean “whip” or “scourge.” NRSV reads “slash yourselves with whips” which also makes excellent sense in the context but is not supported by any parallel use of the verb.
32 sn Compare Jer 48:7 and the study note there.
33 sn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”
34 sn The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561
35 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”