Discovery BoxJeremiah 12:4-8
Context12:4 How long must the land be parched 1
and the grass in every field be withered?
How long 2 must the animals and the birds die
because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? 3
For these people boast,
“God 4 will not see what happens to us.” 5
“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out,
how will you be able to compete with horses?
And if you feel secure only 7 in safe and open country, 8
how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? 9
12:6 As a matter of fact, 10 even your own brothers
and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.
Even they have plotted to do away with you. 11
So do not trust them even when they say kind things 12 to you.
12:7 “I will abandon my nation. 13
I will forsake the people I call my own. 14
I will turn my beloved people 15
over to the power 16 of their enemies.
12:8 The people I call my own 17 have turned on me
like a lion 18 in the forest.
They have roared defiantly 19 at me.
So I will treat them as though I hate them. 20
[12:4] 1 tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).
[12:4] 2 tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.
[12:4] 3 tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”
[12:4] 4 tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.
[12:4] 5 tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.
[12:5] 6 tn The words “The
[12:5] 7 tn Some commentaries and English versions follow the suggestion given in HALOT 116 s.v. II בָּטַח that a homonym meaning “to stumble, fall down” is involved here and in Prov 14:16. The evidence for this homonym is questionable because both passages can be explained on other grounds with the usual root.
[12:5] 8 tn Heb “a land of tranquility.” The expression involves a figure of substitution where the feeling engendered is substituted for the conditions that engender it. For the idea see Isa 32:18. The translation both here and in the following line is intended to bring out the contrast implicit in the emotive connotations connected with “peaceful country” and “thicket along the Jordan.”
[12:5] 9 tn Heb “the thicket along the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[12:6] 10 tn This is an attempt to give some contextual sense to the particle “for, indeed” (כִּי, ki).
[12:6] 11 tn Heb “they have called after you fully”; or “have lifted up loud voices against you.” The word “against” does not seem quite adequate for the preposition “after.” The preposition “against” would be Hebrew עַל (’al). The idea appears to be that they are chasing after him, raising their voices along with those of the conspirators to have him killed.
[12:6] 12 tn Heb “good things.” See BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 2 for this nuance and compare Prov 12:25 for usage.
[12:7] 13 tn Heb “my house.” Or “I have abandoned my nation.” The word “house” has been used throughout Jeremiah for both the temple (e.g., 7:2, 10), the nation or people of Israel or of Judah (e.g. 3:18, 20), or the descendants of Jacob (i.e., the Israelites, e.g., 2:4). Here the parallelism argues that it refers to the nation of Judah. The translation throughout vv. 5-17 assumes that the verb forms are prophetic perfects, the form that conceives of the action as being as good as done. It is possible that the forms are true perfects and refer to a past destruction of Judah. If so, it may have been connected with the assaults against Judah in 598/7
[12:7] 14 tn Heb “my inheritance.”
[12:7] 15 tn Heb “the beloved of my soul.” Here “soul” stands for the person and is equivalent to “my.”
[12:7] 16 tn Heb “will give…into the hands of.”
[12:8] 17 tn See the note on the previous verse.
[12:8] 18 tn Heb “have become to me like a lion.”
[12:8] 19 tn Heb “have given against me with her voice.”
[12:8] 20 tn Or “so I will reject her.” The word “hate” is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to being neglected, i.e., treated as though unloved. In these contexts it does not have the same emotive connotations that a typical modern reader would associate with hate. See Gen 29:31, 33 and E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 556.
