Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:31 
Context2:31 You people of this generation,
listen to what the Lord says.
“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?
Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? 1
Why then do you 2 say, ‘We are free to wander. 3
We will not come to you any more?’
Jeremiah 13:16
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
Jeremiah 32:44
Context32:44 Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. 9 For I will restore them to their land. 10 I, the Lord, affirm it!’” 11
Jeremiah 49:37
Context49:37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,
who are seeking to kill them.
I will vent my fierce anger
and bring disaster upon them,” 12 says the Lord. 13
“I will send armies chasing after them 14
until I have completely destroyed them.
Jeremiah 52:31
Context52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth 15 day of the twelfth month, 16 Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned 17 King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.
1 tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.
2 tn Heb “my people.”
3 tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.
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 “They will buy fields with silver and write in the deed and seal [it] and have witnesses witness [it] in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the towns in Judah, in the towns in the hill country, in the towns in the Shephelah, and in the towns in the Negev.” The long Hebrew sentence has again been restructured to better conform to contemporary English style. The indefinite “they will buy” is treated as a passive. It is followed by three infinitive absolutes which substitute for the finite verb (cf. GKC 345 §113.y) which is a common feature of the style of the book of Jeremiah.
sn For the geographical districts mentioned here compare Jer 17:26.
10 tn Or “I will reverse their fortunes.” For this idiom see the translator’s note on 29:14 and compare the usage in 29:14; 30:3, 18; 31:23.
11 tn Heb “Oracle of the
12 tn Heb “I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger.”
13 tn Heb “Oracle of the
14 tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.”
15 sn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”
16 sn The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561
17 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
