Discovery BoxJeremiah 6:4-5 
Context6:4 They will say, 1 ‘Prepare to do battle 2 against it!
Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’
But later they will say, 3 ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! 4
The day is almost over
and the shadows of evening are getting long.
6:5 So come on, let’s go ahead and attack it by night
and destroy all its fortified buildings.’
Jeremiah 6:12-15
Context6:12 Their houses will be turned over to others
as will their fields and their wives.
For I will unleash my power 5
against those who live in this land,”
says the Lord.
6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all of them practice deceit.
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered. 6
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right! 7
6:15 Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?
No, they are not at all ashamed.
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die, just like others have died. 8
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
1 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “Sanctify war.” This is probably an idiom from early Israel’s holy wars in which religious rites were to precede the battle.
3 tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some commentaries and English versions see these not as the words of the enemy but as those of the Israelites expressing their fear that the enemy will launch a night attack against them and further destroy them. The connection with the next verse, however, fits better with them if they are the words of the enemy.
4 tn Heb “Woe to us!” For the usage of this phrase see the translator’s note on 4:13. The usage of this particle here is a little exaggerated. They have lost the most advantageous time for attack but they are scarcely in a hopeless or doomed situation. The equivalent in English slang is “Bad news!”
5 tn Heb “I will reach out my hand.” This figure involves both comparing God to a person (anthropomorphism) and substitution (metonymy) where hand is put for the actions or exertions of the hand. A common use of “hand” is for the exertion of power or strength (cf. BDB 290 s.v. יָד 2 and 289-90 s.v. יָד 1.e(2); cf. Deut 34:12; Ps 78:42; Jer 16:21).
6 tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”
7 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
8 tn Heb “They will fall among the fallen.”
