Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:30 
Context2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.
They did not respond to such correction.
You slaughtered your prophets
like a voracious lion.” 1
Jeremiah 48:15
Context48:15 Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded.
Its finest young men will be slaughtered. 2
I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, 3 affirm it! 4
Jeremiah 50:27
Context50:27 Kill all her soldiers! 5
Let them be slaughtered! 6
They are doomed, 7 for their day of reckoning 8 has come,
the time for them to be punished.”
1 tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.
2 tn Heb “will go down to the slaughter.”
3 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of the translation and meaning of this title see the study note on 2:19.
4 tn Heb “Oracle of the King whose name is Yahweh of armies.” The first person form has again been adopted because the
5 tn Heb “Kill all her young bulls.” Commentators are almost universally agreed that the reference to “young bulls” is figurative here for the princes and warriors (cf. BDB 831 s.v. פַּר 2.f, which compares Isa 34:7 and Ezek 39:18). This is virtually certain because of the reference to the time coming for them to be punished; this would scarcely fit literal bulls. For the verb rendered “kill” here see the translator’s note on v. 21.
6 tn Heb “Let them go down to the slaughter.”
7 tn Or “How terrible it will be for them”; Heb “Woe to them.” See the study note on 22:13 and compare the usage in 23:1; 48:1.
8 tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
