Jeremiah 7:9
Context7:9 You steal. 1 You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to 2 other gods whom you have not previously known.
Jeremiah 7:24
Context7:24 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. 3
Jeremiah 8:7
Context8:7 Even the stork knows
when it is time to move on. 4
The turtledove, swallow, and crane 5
recognize 6 the normal times for their migration.
But my people pay no attention
to 7 what I, the Lord, require of them. 8
Jeremiah 12:11
Context12:11 They will lay it waste.
It will lie parched 9 and empty before me.
The whole land will be laid waste.
But no one living in it will pay any heed. 10
Jeremiah 20:12
Context20:12 O Lord who rules over all, 11 you test and prove the righteous.
You see into people’s hearts and minds. 12
Pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.
Jeremiah 22:13
Context22:13 “‘Sure to be judged 13 is the king who builds his palace using injustice
and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. 14
He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.
Jeremiah 25:6
Context25:6 Do not pay allegiance to 15 other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. 16 Then I will not cause you any harm.’
Jeremiah 26:5
Context26:5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. 17 But you have not paid any attention to them.
Jeremiah 44:5
Context44:5 But the people of Jerusalem and Judah 18 would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. 19
Jeremiah 51:36
Context51:36 Therefore the Lord says,
“I will stand up for your cause.
I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done to you. 20
I will dry up their sea.
I will make their springs run dry. 21
1 tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.
2 tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.
3 tn Or “They went backward and not forward”; Heb “They were to the backward and not to the forward.” The two phrases used here appear nowhere else in the Bible and the latter preposition plus adverb elsewhere is used temporally meaning “formerly” or “previously.” The translation follows the proposal of J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 57. Another option is “they turned their backs to me, not their faces,” understanding the line as a variant of a line in 2:27.
4 tn Heb “its appointed time.” The translation is contextually motivated to avoid lack of clarity.
5 tn There is debate in the commentaries and lexicons about the identification of some of these birds, particularly regarding the identification of the “swallow” which is more likely the “swift” and the “crane” which some identify with the “thrush.” For a discussion see the Bible encyclopedias and the UBS handbook Fauna and Flora of the Bible. The identity of the individual birds makes little difference to the point being made and “swallow” is more easily identifiable to the average reader than the “swift.”
6 tn Heb “keep.” Ironically birds, which do not think, obey the laws of nature, but Israel does not obey the laws of God.
7 tn Heb “do not know.” But here as elsewhere the word “know” is more than an intellectual matter. It is intended here to summarize both “know” and “follow” (Heb “observe”) in the preceding lines.
8 tn Heb “the ordinance/requirement of the
9 tn For the use of this verb see the notes on 12:4. Some understand the homonym here meaning “it [the desolated land] will mourn to me.” However, the only other use of the preposition עַל (’al) with this root means “to mourn over” not “to” (cf. Hos 10:5). For the use of the preposition here see BDB 753 s.v. עַל II.1.b and compare the use in Gen 48:7.
10 tn Heb “But there is no man laying it to heart.” For the idiom here see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב II.3.d and compare the usage in Isa 42:25; 47:7.
sn There is a very interesting play on words and sounds in this verse that paints a picture of desolation and the pathos it evokes. Part of this is reflected in the translation. The same Hebrew word referring to a desolation or a waste (שְׁמֵמָה, shÿmemah) is repeated three times at the end of three successive lines and the related verb is found at the beginning of the fourth (נָשַׁמָּה, nashammah). A similar sounding word is found in the second of the three successive lines (שָׁמָהּ, shamah = “he [they] will make it”). This latter word is part of a further play because it is repeated in a different form in the last line (שָׁם, sham = “laying”); they lay it waste but no one lays it to heart. There is also an interesting contrast between the sorrow the
11 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title for God.
12 tn Heb “
sn This verse is almost an exact duplication of the petition in one of Jeremiah’s earlier prayers and complaints. See Jer 11:20 and notes there for explanation of the Hebrew psychology underlying the use of “kidneys and heart” here. For the thoughts expressed here see Ps 17.
13 sn Heb “Woe.” This particle is used in laments for the dead (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 34:5) and as an introductory particle in indictments against a person on whom judgment is pronounced (cf., e.g., Isa 5:8, 11; Jer 23:1). The indictment is found here in vv. 13-17 and the announcement of judgment in vv. 18-19.
14 tn Heb “Woe to the one who builds his house by unrighteousness and its upper rooms with injustice using his neighbor [= countryman] as a slave for nothing and not giving to him his wages.”
sn This was a clear violation of covenant law (cf. Deut 24:14-15) and a violation of the requirements set forth in Jer 22:3. The allusion is to Jehoiakim who is not mentioned until v. 18. He was placed on the throne by Pharaoh Necho and ruled from 609-598
15 tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.
16 tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.
17 tn See the translator’s note on 7:13 for the idiom here.
18 tn There appears to be a deliberate shift in the pronouns used in vv. 2-5. “You” refers to the people living in Egypt who are being addressed (v. 2) and to the people of present and past generations to whom the
19 tn Heb “They did not listen or incline their ear [= pay attention] by turning from their wickedness by not sacrificing to other gods.” The לְ (lamed) + the negative + the infinitive is again epexegetical. The sentence has been restructured and more idiomatic English expressions have been used to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to retain the basic relationships of subordination.
20 tn Heb “I will avenge your vengeance [= I will take vengeance for you; the phrase involves a verb and a cognate accusative].” The meaning of the phrase has been spelled out in more readily understandable terms.
21 tn Heb “I will dry up her [Babylon’s] sea and make her fountain dry.” “Their” has been substituted for “her” because “Babylonians” has been inserted in the previous clause and is easier to understand than the personification of Babylon = “her.”
sn The reference to their sea is not clear. Most interpreters understand it to be a figurative reference to the rivers and canals surrounding Babylon. But some feel it refers to the reservoir that the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, Queen Nictoris, had made.