Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:27 
Context2:27 They say to a wooden idol, 1 ‘You are my father.’
They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ 2
Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. 3
Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
Jeremiah 4:3
Context4:3 Yes, 4 the Lord has this to say
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,
you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;
just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,
you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives. 5
Jeremiah 37:17
Context37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, 6 “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, 7 “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 8
1 tn Heb “wood…stone…”
2 sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”
3 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”
4 tn The Hebrew particle is obviously asseverative here since a causal connection appears to make little sense.
5 tn Heb “Plow up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns.” The translation is an attempt to bring out the force of a metaphor. The idea seems to be that they are to plow over the thorns and make the ground ready for the seeds which will produce a new crop where none had been produced before.
6 tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”
7 tn Heb “Then he said.”
8 sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)
