Discovery Box| (0.06) | (Jer 43:12) | 2 tn Heb “burn them or carry them off as captives.” Some of the commentaries and English versions make a distinction between the objects of the verbs, i.e., burn the temples and carry off the gods. However, the burning down of the temples is referred to later in v. 13. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 42:10) | 2 tn Or “I will firmly plant you in the land,” or “I will establish you.” This is part of the metaphor that has been used of God (re)establishing Israel in the land. See 24:6; 31:28; 32:41. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 35:13) | 2 tn Heb “35:12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, “Go and say…‘Will you not learn…’”’” The use of the indirect introduction has been chosen here, as in 34:1-2, to try to cut down on the confusion created by embedding quotations within quotations. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 35:15) | 2 tn Heb “Don’t go after/follow other gods.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom and see 11:10; 13:10; 25:6 for the same idiom. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 31:32) | 4 sn The metaphor of Yahweh as husband and Israel as wife has been used already in Jer 3 and is implicit in the repeated allusions to idolatry as spiritual adultery or prostitution. The best commentary on the faithfulness of God to his “husband-like” relation is seen in the book of Hosea, especially in Hos 1-3. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 31:18) | 5 sn There is a wordplay on several different nuances of the same Hebrew verb in vv. 16-19. The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) refers both to their turning away from God (v. 19) and to their turning back to him (v. 18). It is also the word that is used for their return to their homeland (vv. 16-17). |
| (0.06) | (Jer 23:35) | 1 tn The words “So, I, Jeremiah tell you” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that it is he who is addressing the people, not the Lord. See “our God” in v. 38 and “Here is what the Lord says…,” which indicate the speaker is other than he. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 23:13) | 4 sn Prophesying in the name of the god Baal was a clear violation of Mosaic law and punishable by death (see Deut 13:1-5). For an example of the apostasy encouraged by prophets of Baal in the northern kingdom of Israel, see 1 Kgs 18:16-40. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 22:28) | 3 sn The question “Why?” is a common rhetorical feature in the book of Jeremiah. See Jer 2:14, 31; 8:5, 19, 22; 12:1; 13:22; 14:19. In several cases like this one, no answer is given, leaving a sense of exasperation and hopelessness with the sinfulness of the nation that calls forth such punishment from God. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 22:5) | 1 sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16 and 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by none higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 22:3) | 3 sn Do not kill innocent people. For an example of one of the last kings who did this, see Jer 36:20-23. Manasseh was notorious for having done this, and the book of 2 Kgs attributes the ultimate destruction of Judah to this crime and his sin of worshiping false gods (2 Kgs 21:16; 24:4). |
| (0.06) | (Jer 18:8) | 2 sn There is a wordplay here involving the word “evil” (רָעָה, raʿah), which refers to both the crime and the punishment. This same play is carried further in Jonah 3:10-4:1, where Jonah becomes very displeased (Heb “it was very evil to Jonah with great evil”) when God forgoes bringing disaster (evil) on Nineveh because they have repented of their wickedness (evil). |
| (0.06) | (Jer 15:18) | 1 sn Jeremiah is speaking of the stream beds or wadis, which fill with water after the spring rains but often dry up in the summer time. A fuller picture is painted in Job 6:14-21. This contrasts with the earlier metaphor that God had used of himself in Jer 2:13. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 13:16) | 1 tn Heb “Give glory/respect to the Lord your God.” For this nuance of the word “glory” (כָּבוֹד, kavod), see BDB 459 s.v. כָּבוֹד 6.b and compare the usage in Mal 1:6 and Josh 7:19. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 12:3) | 1 sn Jeremiah appears to be complaining like Job that God cares nothing about the prosperity of the wicked, but watches Jeremiah’s every move. The reverse ought to be true. Jeremiah should not be suffering the onslaughts of his fellow countrymen as he is. The wicked who are prospering should be experiencing punishment. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 10:25) | 5 tn Or “have almost completely destroyed them”; Heb “they have devoured them and consumed them.” The figure of hyperbole is used here; elsewhere Jeremiah and God refer to the fact that they will not be completely consumed. See for example 4:27; 5:10, 18. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 8:22) | 2 sn The prophet means by this metaphor that there are still means available for healing the spiritual ills of his people, mainly repentance, obedience to the law, and sole allegiance to God, and still people available who will apply this medicine to them, namely prophets like himself. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 4:4) | 1 sn Circumcising the heart is a metaphor for being dedicated to the Lord. It is associated with not being stubborn and with loving God in Deut 10:16; 30:6. See also Josh 5 for a ceremony of circumcision connected with national dedication. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 3:8) | 3 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 3:14) | 1 sn There is a wordplay between the term “true master” and the name of the pagan god Baal. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, creating a contrast between the Lord as Israel’s true master/husband versus Baal as Israel’s illegitimate lover/master. See 2:23-25. |
