Discovery BoxJeremiah 6:20 
Context6:20 I take no delight 1 when they offer up to me 2
frankincense that comes from Sheba
or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.
I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.
I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ 3
Jeremiah 8:1
Context8:1 The Lord says, “When that time comes, 4 the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves.
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. 5 I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. 6 Moreover, none of the people of Israel 7 are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” 8
Jeremiah 17:8
Context17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream
whose roots spread out toward the water.
It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.
Its leaves are always green.
It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.
It does not stop bearing fruit.
Jeremiah 46:21
Contextwill prove to be like pampered, 10 well-fed calves.
For they too will turn and run away.
They will not stand their ground
when 11 the time for them to be destroyed comes,
the time for them to be punished.
1 tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
2 tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.
4 tn Heb “At that time.”
5 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.
6 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
7 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
8 tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”
9 tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”
10 tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.
11 tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.
