Discovery BoxJeremiah 10:20 
Context10:20 But our tents have been destroyed.
The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. 1
Our children are gone and are not coming back. 2
There is no survivor to put our tents back up,
no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.
Jeremiah 23:15
Context23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all, 3
have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: 4
‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering
and drink the poison water of judgment. 5
For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason 6
that ungodliness 7 has spread throughout the land.’”
Jeremiah 34:7
Context34:7 He did this while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. He was attacking these cities because they were the only fortified cities of Judah which were still holding out. 8
Jeremiah 35:7
Context35:7 Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. 9 Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will 10 live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’ 11
Jeremiah 44:28
Context44:28 Some who survive in battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed! 12 Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true, 13 mine or theirs.’
Jeremiah 49:32
Context49:32 Their camels will be taken as plunder.
Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.
I will scatter to the four winds
those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. 14
I will bring disaster against them
from every direction,” says the Lord. 15
Jeremiah 52:20
Context52:20 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” and the movable stands 16 ) was too heavy to be weighed.
1 tn Heb “My tent has been destroyed and my tent cords have been ripped apart.” For a very similar identification of Jeremiah’s plight with the plight of the personified community see 4:20 and the notes there.
2 tn Heb “my children have gone from me and are no more.”
sn What is being referred to is the exile of the people of the land. This passage could refer to the exiles of 605
3 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.
4 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
5 tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” For these same words of judgment on another group see 9:15 (9:14 HT). “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.
6 tn The compound preposition מֵאֵת (me’et) expresses source or origin (see BDB 86 s.v. אֵת 4.c). Context shows that the origin is in their false prophesying which encourages people in their evil behavior.
7 sn A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the
8 tn Heb “And the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah which were left, [namely] against Lachish and Azekah for they alone were left of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.” The intent of this sentence is to serve as a circumstantial sentence to v. 6 (= “while the army…”). That thought is picked up by “he did this while….” The long complex sentence in v. 7 has been broken down and qualifying material placed in the proper places to convey the same information in shorter English sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.
9 tn Heb “Don’t plant a vineyard and it shall not be to you [= and you shall/must not have one].”
10 tn Heb “Don’t…and don’t…but live…in order that you might….”
11 sn Heb “where you are sojourning.” The terms “sojourn” and “sojourner” referred to a person who resided in a country not his own, without the rights and privileges of citizenship as a member of a nation, state, or principality. In the ancient Near East such people were dependent on the laws of hospitality rather than the laws of state for protection and provision of legal rights. Perhaps the best illustration of this is Abraham who “sojourned” among the Philistines and the Hittites in Canaan and was dependent upon them for grazing and water rights and for a place to bury his wife (cf. Gen 20-24). What is described here is the typical lifestyle of a nomadic tribe.
12 tn Heb “The survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number [more literally, “men of number”; for the idiom see BDB 709 s.v. מִסְפָּר 1.a].” The term “survivors of the sword” may be intended to represent both those who survive death in war or death by starvation or disease, a synecdoche of species for all three genera.
sn This statement shows that the preceding “none,” “never again,” “all” in vv. 26-27 are rhetorical hyperbole. Not all but almost all; very few would survive. The following statement implies that the reason that they are left alive is to bear witness to the fact that the
13 tn Heb “will stand,” i.e., in the sense of being fulfilled, proving to be true, or succeeding (see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g).
14 tn See the translator’s note at Jer 9:26 and compare the usage in 9:26 and 25:23.
15 tn Heb “Oracle of the
16 tc The translation follows the LXX (Greek version), which reflects the description in 1 Kgs 7:25-26. The Hebrew text reads, “the twelve bronze bulls under the movable stands.” הַיָּם (hayyam, “The Sea”) has been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton; note that the following form, הַמְּכֹנוֹת (hammÿkhonot, “the movable stands”), also begins with the article.
