Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:6 
Context2:6 They did not ask:
‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt,
who brought us through the wilderness,
through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,
through a land of drought and deep darkness, 1
through a land in which no one travels,
and where no one lives?’ 2
Jeremiah 3:2
Context3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. 3
You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. 4
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. 5
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. 6
Jeremiah 4:11
Context4:11 “At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem 7 will be told,
‘A scorching wind will sweep down
from the hilltops in the desert on 8 my dear people. 9
It will not be a gentle breeze
for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. 10
Jeremiah 5:6
Context5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.
Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.
Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities
and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. 11
For they have rebelled so much
and done so many unfaithful things. 12
Jeremiah 9:12
Context“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? 14
Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? 15
Why does the land lie in ruins?
Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”
Jeremiah 9:26
Context9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. 16 I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. 17 Moreover, none of the people of Israel 18 are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” 19
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. 20
I will bring disaster against them
from every direction,” says the Lord. 21
1 tn This word is erroneously rendered “shadow of death” in most older English versions; that translation is based on a faulty etymology. Contextual studies and comparative Semitic linguistics have demonstrated that the word is merely another word for darkness. It is confined to poetic texts and often carries connotations of danger and distress. It is associated in poetic texts with the darkness of a prison (Ps 107:10, 14), a mine (Job 28:3), and a ravine (Ps 23:4). Here it is associated with the darkness of the wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert.
2 sn The context suggests that the question is related to a lament where the people turn to God in their troubles, asking him for help and reminding him of his past benefactions. See for example Isa 63:11-19 and Ps 44. It is an implicit prayer for his intervention, cf. 2 Kgs 2:14.
3 tn Heb “and see.”
4 tn Heb “Where have you not been ravished?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “nowhere,” which suggests she has engaged in the worship of pagan gods on every one of the hilltops.
5 tn Heb “You sat for them [the lovers, i.e., the foreign gods] beside the road like an Arab in the desert.”
6 tn Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,” one expresses the main idea and the other qualifies it.
7 tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”
8 tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”
sn The allusion is, of course, to the destructive forces of the enemy armies of Babylon compared above in 4:7 to a destructive lion and here to the destructive desert winds of the Near Eastern sirocco.
9 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common expression “daughter of Zion.”
10 tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.
11 tn Heb “So a lion from the thicket will kill them. A wolf from the desert will destroy them. A leopard will watch outside their cities. Anyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces.” However, it is unlikely that, in the context of judgment that Jeremiah has previously been describing, literal lions are meant. The animals are metaphorical for their enemies. Compare Jer 4:7.
12 tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”
13 tn The words, “I said” are not in the text. It is not clear that a shift in speaker has taken place. However, the words of the verse are very unlikely to be a continuation of the
14 tn Heb “Who is the wise man that he may understand this?”
15 tn Heb “And [who is the man] to whom the mouth of the
16 tn Heb “all those who are cut off on the side of the head who live in the desert.” KJV and some other English versions (e.g., NIV “who live in the desert in distant places”; NLT “who live in distant places”) have followed the interpretation that this is a biform of an expression meaning “end or remote parts of the [far] corners [of the earth].” This interpretation is generally abandoned by the more recent commentaries and lexicons (see, e.g. BDB 802 s.v. פֵּאָה 1 and HALOT 858 s.v. פֵּאָה 1.β). It occurs also in 25:33; 49:32.
17 tn Heb “For all of these nations are uncircumcised.” The words “I will do so” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection with the preceding statement.
sn A contrast is drawn here between circumcision as a mere external cutting of the flesh and a sign of commitment to the covenant and the God of the covenant. The people of these nations practiced circumcision but not as a sign of the covenant. The people of Israel engaged in it as a religious practice but without any obedience to the covenant that it was a sign of or any real commitment to the
18 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
19 tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”
20 tn See the translator’s note at Jer 9:26 and compare the usage in 9:26 and 25:23.
21 tn Heb “Oracle of the
