Discovery BoxJeremiah 21:14 
Context21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’
says the Lord. 1
‘I will set fire to your palace;
it will burn up everything around it.’” 2
Jeremiah 4:18
Context4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done 3
will bring this on you.
This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. 4
The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” 5
Jeremiah 10:7
Context10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, 6
because you deserve to be revered. 7
For there is no one like you
among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. 8
Jeremiah 17:10
Context17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.
I examine people’s hearts. 9
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
Jeremiah 17:18
Context17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.
Do not let me be disgraced.
May they be dismayed.
Do not let me be dismayed.
Bring days of disaster on them.
Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” 10
Jeremiah 26:8
Context26:8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some 11 of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! 12
1 tn Heb “oracle of the
2 tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.
3 tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”
4 tn Heb “How bitter!”
5 tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.
6 tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
7 tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”
8 tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.
9 tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.
sn For an earlier reference to this motif see Jer 11:20. For a later reference see Jer 20:12. See also Ps 17:2-3.
10 tn Or “complete destruction.” See the translator’s note on 16:18.
sn Jeremiah now does what he says he has not wanted to do or been hasty to do. He is, however, seeking his own vindication and that of God whose threats they have belittled.
11 tn The translation again represents an attempt to break up a long complex Hebrew sentence into equivalent English ones that conform more to contemporary English style: Heb “And as soon as Jeremiah finished saying all that…the priests…grabbed him and said…” The word “some” has been supplied in the translation, because obviously it was not all the priests, the prophets, and all the people, but only some of them. There is, of course, rhetorical intent here to show that all were implicated, although all may not have actually participated. (This is a common figure called synecdoche where all is put for a part – all for all kinds or representatives of all kinds. See E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 614-19, and compare usage in Acts 10:12; Matt 3:5.)
12 tn Or “You must certainly die!” The construction here is again emphatic with the infinitive preceding the finite verb (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Exod 21:28).
