Discovery BoxJeremiah 8:8-9 
Context8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the Lord”?
The truth is, 1 those who teach it 2 have used their writings
to make it say what it does not really mean. 3
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. 4
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
Jeremiah 10:7
Context10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, 5
because you deserve to be revered. 6
For there is no one like you
among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. 7
Jeremiah 51:57
Context51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, leaders, 8 and warriors.
They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” 9
says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. 10
1 tn Heb “Surely, behold!”
2 tn Heb “the scribes.”
3 tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.
4 tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).
5 tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
6 tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”
7 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.
8 sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.
9 sn See the note at Jer 51:39.
10 tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.
