Jeremiah 4:19-20

4:19 I said, ¹ 

“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ² 

I writhe in anguish.

Oh, the pain in my heart! ³ 

My heart pounds within me.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ⁴ 

the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ⁵ 

4:20 I see ⁶  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ⁷  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ⁸  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 4:31

4:31 In fact, ¹⁰  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.

It is the cry of Daughter Zion ¹¹  gasping for breath,

reaching out for help, ¹²  saying, “I am done in! ¹³ 

My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

Jeremiah 6:26

6:26 So I said, ¹⁴  “Oh, my dear people, ¹⁵  put on sackcloth

and roll in ashes.

Mourn with painful sobs

as though you had lost your only child.

For any moment now ¹⁶  that destructive army ¹⁷ 

will come against us.”

Jeremiah 9:20-21

9:20 I said, ¹⁸ 

“So now, ¹⁹  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ²⁰ 

Open your ears to the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters this mournful song,

and each of you teach your neighbor ²¹  this lament.

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in ²²  through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

Jeremiah 25:34-36

25:34 Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers!

Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! ²³ 

The time for you to be slaughtered has come.

You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery. ²⁴ 

25:35 The leaders will not be able to run away and hide. ²⁵ 

The shepherds of the flocks will not be able to escape.

25:36 Listen to the cries of anguish of the leaders.

Listen to the wails of the shepherds of the flocks.

They are wailing because the Lord

is about to destroy their lands. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 47:2-3

47:2 “Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. ²⁷ 

They will be like an overflowing stream.

They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.

They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.

People will cry out in alarm.

Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.

47:3 Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies’ horses,

the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels.

They will not turn back to save their children

because they will be paralyzed with fear. ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 48:3-5

48:3 Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim,

‘Oh, the ruin and great destruction!’

48:4 “Moab will be crushed.

Her children will cry out in distress. ²⁹ 

48:5 Indeed they will climb the slopes of Luhith,

weeping continually as they go. ³⁰ 

For on the road down to Horonaim

they will hear the cries of distress over the destruction. ³¹ 

Isaiah 10:30

10:30 Shout out, daughter of Gallim!

Pay attention, Laishah!

Answer her, Anathoth! ³² 

Isaiah 22:1-4

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: ³³ 

What is the reason ³⁴ 

that all of you go up to the rooftops?

22:2 The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;

the town is filled with revelry. ³⁵ 

Your slain were not cut down by the sword;

they did not die in battle. ³⁶ 

22:3 ³⁷ All your leaders ran away together –

they fled to a distant place;

all your refugees ³⁸  were captured together –

they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ³⁹ 

22:4 So I say:

“Don’t look at me! ⁴⁰ 

I am weeping bitterly.

Don’t try ⁴¹  to console me

concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ⁴² 

Zephaniah 1:10-11

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ⁴³  from the Fish Gate, ⁴⁴ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ⁴⁵ 

and a loud crash ⁴⁶  from the hills.

1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ⁴⁷ 

for all the merchants ⁴⁸  will disappear ⁴⁹ 

and those who count money ⁵⁰  will be removed. ⁵¹ 

Zephaniah 1:16

1:16 a day of trumpet blasts ⁵²  and battle cries. ⁵³ 

Judgment will fall on ⁵⁴  the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

[4:19]  ¹ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.

[4:19]  ² tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”

[4:19]  ³ tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”

[4:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:19]  ⁵ tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).

[4:20]  ⁶ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ⁹ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.

[4:31]  ¹⁰ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.

[4:31]  ¹¹ sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.

[4:31]  ¹² tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.

[4:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”

[6:26]  ¹⁴ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the context.

[6:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the translator’s note there.

[6:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “suddenly.”

[6:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the destroyer.”

[9:20]  ¹⁸ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. The text merely has “Indeed, yes.” The words are supplied in the translation to indicate that the speaker is still Jeremiah though he now is not talking about the mourning woman but is talking to them. See the notes on 9:17-18 for further explanation.

[9:20]  ¹⁹ tn It is a little difficult to explain how the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here. W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:311) may be correct in seeing it as introducing the contents of what those who call for the mourning women are to say. In this case, Jeremiah picks up the task as representative of the people.

[9:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord.”

[9:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “Teach…mournful song, and each woman her neighbor lady…”

[9:21]  ²² sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.

[25:34]  ²³ tn Heb “Wail and cry out, you shepherds. Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.” The terms have been reversed to explain the figure.

[25:34]  ²⁴ tn The meaning of this line is debated. The Greek version does not have the words “lie scattered” and it reads the words “like broken pieces of fine pottery” (Heb “like choice vessels”; כִּכְלִי חֶמְדָּה, kikhli khemdah) as “like choice rams” (כְּאֵילֵי חֶמְדָּה, kÿ’ele khemdah); i.e., “the days have been completed for you to be slaughtered and you will fall like choice rams.” The reading of the Greek version fits the context better, but is probably secondary for that very reason. The word translated “lie scattered” (תְּפוֹצָה, tÿfotsah) occurs nowhere else and the switch to the simile of “choice vessels” is rather abrupt. However, this section has been characterized by switching metaphors. The key to the interpretation and translation here is the consequential nature of the verbal actions involved. “Fall” does not merely refer to the action but the effect, i.e., “lie fallen” (cf. BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל 7 and compare Judg 3:25; 1 Sam 31:8). Though the noun translated “lie scattered” does not occur elsewhere, the verb does. It is quite commonly used of dispersing people and that has led many to see that as the reference here. The word, however, can be used of scattering other things like seed (Isa 28:25), arrows (2 Sam 22:15; metaphorical for lightning), etc. Here it follows “slaughtered” and refers to their dead bodies. The simile (Heb “ fallen like choice vessels”) is elliptical, referring to “broken pieces” of choice vessels. In this sense the simile fits in perfectly with v. 33.

[25:35]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Flight [or “place of escape”] will perish from the shepherds.”

[25:36]  ²⁶ tn Heb “their pastures,” i.e., the place where they “shepherd” their “flocks.” The verb tenses in this section are not as clear as in the preceding. The participle in this verse is followed by a vav consecutive perfect like the imperatives in v. 34. The verbs in v. 38 are perfects but they can be and probably should be understood as prophetic like the perfect in v. 31 (נְתָנָם, nÿtanam) which is surrounded by imperfects, participles, and vav consecutive perfects.

[47:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Behold! Waters are rising from the north.” The metaphor of enemy armies compared to overflowing water is seen also in Isa 8:8-9 (Assyria) and 46:7-8 (Egypt). Here it refers to the foe from the north (Jer 1:14; 4:6; etc) which is specifically identified with Babylon in Jer 25. The metaphor has been turned into a simile in the translation to help the average reader identify that a figure is involved and to hint at the referent.

[47:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “From the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the rattling of his chariots at the rumbling of their wheels, fathers will not turn to their children from sinking of hands.” According to BDB 952 s.v. רִפָּיוֹן the “sinking of the hands” is figurative of helplessness caused by terror. A very similar figure is seen with a related expression in Isa 35:3-4. The sentence has been restructured to put the subject up front and to suggest through shorter sentences more in keeping with contemporary English style the same causal connections. The figures have been interpreted for the sake of clarity for the average reader.

[48:4]  ²⁹ tc The reading here follows the Qere צְעִירֶיהָ (tsÿ’ireha) which is the same noun found in Jer 14:3 in the sense of “servants.” Here it refers to the young ones, i.e., the children (cf. the use of the adjective BDB 859 s.v. I צָעִיר 2 and see Gen 43:33). Many of the modern commentaries and a few of the modern English versions follow the Greek version and read “their cry is heard as far as Zoar” (reading צֹעֲרָה, tso’arah; see, for example, J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 699, n. 4, and BDB 858 s.v. צֹעַר). However, that leaves the verb with an indefinite subject (the verb is active 3rd plural not passive) not otherwise identified in the preceding context. Many of the modern English versions such as NRSV, NJPS, NIV retain the Hebrew as the present translation has done. In this case the masculine plural noun furnishes a logical subject for the verb.

[48:5]  ³⁰ tn Or “Indeed her fugitives will…” It is unclear what the subject of the verbs are in this verse. The verb in the first two lines “climb” (יַעֲלֶה, ya’aleh) is third masculine singular and the verb in the second two lines “will hear” (שָׁמֵעוּ, shame’u) is third common plural. The causal particles at the beginning of the two halves of the verse suggest some connection with the preceding, so the translation assumes that the children are still the subject. In this case the singular verb would be a case of the distributive singular already referred to in the translator’s note on 46:15. The parallel passage in Isa 15:5 refers to the “fugitives” (בְּרִיחֶהָ, bÿrikheha) with the same singular verb as here and that may be the implied subject here.

[48:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “the distresses of the cry of destruction.” Many commentaries want to leave out the word “distresses” because it is missing from the Greek version and the parallel passage in Isa 15:5. However, it is in all the Hebrew mss and in the other early versions, and it is hard to see why it would be added here if it were not original.

[10:30]  ³² tc The Hebrew text reads “Poor [is] Anathoth.” The parallelism is tighter if עֲנִיָּה (’aniyyah,“poor”) is emended to עֲנִיהָ (’aniha, “answer her”). Note how the preceding two lines have an imperative followed by a proper name.

[22:1]  ³³ sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

[22:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “What to you, then?”

[22:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the boisterous town.” The phrase is parallel to “the noisy city” in the preceding line.

[22:2]  ³⁶ sn Apparently they died from starvation during the siege that preceded the final conquest of the city. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:409.

[22:3]  ³⁷ tn Verse 3 reads literally, “All your leaders ran away, apart from a bow they were captured, all your found ones were captured together, to a distant place they fled.” J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:403, n. 3) suggests that the lines of the verse are arranged chiastically; lines 1 and 4 go together, while lines 2 and 3 are parallel. To translate the lines in the order they appear in the Hebrew text is misleading to the English reader, who is likely unfamiliar with, or at least insensitive to, chiastic parallelism. Consequently, the translation above arranges the lines as follows: line 1 (Hebrew) = line 1 (in translation); line 2 (Hebrew) = line 4 (in translation); line 3 (Hebrew) = line 3 (in translation); line 4 (Hebrew) = line 2 (in translation).

[22:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “all your found ones.” To achieve tighter parallelism (see “your leaders”) some prefer to emend the form to אַמִּיצַיִךְ (’ammitsayikh, “your strong ones”) or to נֶאֱמָצַיִךְ (ne’ematsayikh, “your strengthened ones”).

[22:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “apart from [i.e., without] a bow they were captured”; cf. NAB, NRSV “without the use of a bow.”

[22:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).

[22:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.

[1:10]  ⁴³ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ⁴⁴ sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).

[1:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “great breaking.”

[1:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.

[1:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. Translators have rendered the term either as “the merchant people” (KJV, NKJV), “the traders” (NRSV), “merchants” (NEB, NIV), or, alternatively, “the people of Canaan” (NASB).

[1:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[1:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “weigh out silver.”

[1:11]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “be cut off.” In the Hebrew text of v. 11b the perfect verbal forms emphasize the certainty of the judgment, speaking of it as if it were already accomplished.

[1:16]  ⁵² tn Heb “a ram’s horn.” By metonymy the Hebrew text mentions the trumpet (“ram’s horn”) in place of the sound it produces (“trumpet blasts”).

[1:16]  ⁵³ sn This description of the day of the Lord consists of an initial reference to anger, followed by four pairs of synonyms. The joining of synonyms in this way emphasizes the degree of the characteristic being described. The first two pairs focus on the distress and ruin that judgment will bring; the second two pairs picture this day of judgment as being very dark (darkness) and exceedingly overcast (gloom). The description concludes with the pairing of two familiar battle sounds, the blast on the ram’s horn (trumpet blasts) and the war cries of the warriors (battle cries).

[1:16]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.