Discovery BoxJeremiah 23:9 
Context23:9 Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets: 2
My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed.
I tremble all over. 3
I am like a drunk person,
like a person who has had too much wine, 4
because of the way the Lord
and his holy word are being mistreated. 5
Jeremiah 25:26-27
Context25:26 all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the Lord’s wrath, 6 the king of Babylon 7 must drink it.
25:27 Then the Lord said to me, 8 “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all 9 says, 10 ‘Drink this cup 11 until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. 12 For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ 13
Jeremiah 35:14
Context35:14 Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. 14 To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I 15 have spoken to you over and over again, 16 but you have not obeyed me!
1 sn Jeremiah has already had a good deal to say about the false prophets and their fate. See 2:8, 26; 5:13, 31; 14:13-15. Here he parallels the condemnation of the wicked prophets and their fate (23:9-40) with that of the wicked kings (21:11-22:30).
2 tn The word “false” is not in the text, but it is clear from the context that these are whom the sayings are directed against. The words “Here is what the
3 tn Heb “My heart is crushed within me. My bones tremble.” It has already been noted several times that the “heart” in ancient Hebrew psychology was the intellectual and volitional center of the person, the kidneys were the emotional center, and the bones the locus of strength and also the subject of joy, distress, and sorrow. Here Jeremiah is speaking of his distress of heart and mind in modern psychology, a distress that leads him to trembling of body which he compares to that of a drunken person staggering around under the influence of wine.
4 tn Heb “wine has passed over him.”
5 tn Heb “wine because of the
sn The way the
6 tn The words “have drunk the wine of the
7 tn Heb “the king of Sheshach.” “Sheshach” is a code name for Babylon formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. On this principle Hebrew שׁ (shin) is substituted for Hebrew ב (bet) and Hebrew כ (kaf) is substituted for Hebrew ל (lamed). On the same principle “Leb Kamai” in Jer 51:1 is a code name for Chasdim or Chaldeans which is Jeremiah’s term for the Babylonians. No explanation is given for why the code names are used. The name “Sheshach” for Babylon also occurs in Jer 51:41 where the term Babylon is found in parallelism with it.
8 tn The words “Then the
9 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this extended title.
10 tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the
11 tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.
13 tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.
14 tn Heb “The words of Jonadab son of Rechab which he commanded his descendants not to drink wine have been carried out.” (For the construction of the accusative of subject after a passive verb illustrated here see GKC 388 §121.b.) The sentence has been broken down and made more direct to better conform to contemporary English style.
15 tn The vav (ו) plus the independent pronoun before the verb is intended to mark a sharp contrast. It is difficult, if not impossible to mark this in English other than “But I.”
16 tn On this idiom (which occurs again in the following verse) see the translator’s note on 7:13 for this idiom and compare its use in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14, 15; 44:9.
