Jeremiah 4:19

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 

Jeremiah 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ⁶  I wish that my head were a well full of water ⁷ 

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people ⁸  who have been killed.

Jeremiah 14:17

Lament over Present Destruction and Threat of More to Come

14:17 “Tell these people this, Jeremiah: ⁹ 

‘My eyes overflow with tears

day and night without ceasing. ¹⁰ 

For my people, my dear children, ¹¹  have suffered a crushing blow.

They have suffered a serious wound. ¹² 

Jeremiah 17:16

17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. ¹³ 

I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. ¹⁴ 

You know that.

You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. ¹⁵ 

Nehemiah 2:3

2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ¹⁶  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ¹⁷  by fire?”

Psalms 137:3-6

137:3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ¹⁸ 

those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ¹⁹ 

“Sing for us a song about Zion!” ²⁰ 

137:4 How can we sing a song to the Lord

in a foreign land?

137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand be crippled! ²¹ 

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ²² 

Luke 19:41

Jesus Weeps for Jerusalem under Judgment

19:41 Now ²³  when Jesus ²⁴  approached ²⁵  and saw the city, he wept over it,

Romans 9:1-3

Israel’s Rejection Considered

9:1 ²⁶ I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me ²⁷  in the Holy Spirit – 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ²⁸  9:3 For I could wish ²⁹  that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, ³⁰  my fellow countrymen, ³¹ 

[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”).

[9:1]  ⁶ sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”

[9:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[14:17]  ⁹ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but the address is to a second person singular and is a continuation of 14:14 where the quote starts. The word is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ¹⁰ tn Many of the English versions and commentaries render this an indirect or third person imperative, “Let my eyes overflow…” because of the particle אַל (’al) which introduces the phrase translated “without ceasing” (אַל־תִּדְמֶינָה, ’al-tidmenah). However, this is undoubtedly an example where the particle introduces an affirmation that something cannot be done (cf. GKC 322 §109.e). Clear examples of this are found in Pss 41:2 (41:3 HT); 50:3; Job 40:32 (41:8). God here is describing again a lamentable situation and giving his response to it. See 14:1-6 above.

[14:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “virgin daughter, my people.” The last noun here is appositional to the first two (genitive of apposition). Hence it is not ‘literally’ “virgin daughter of my people.”

[14:17]  ¹² tn This is a poetic personification. To translate with the plural “serious wounds” might mislead some into thinking of literal wounds.

[17:16]  ¹³ tc Heb “I have not run after you for the sake of disaster.” The translation follows the suggestion of some ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads “I have not run from being a shepherd after you.” The translation follows two Greek versions (Aquila and Symmachus) and the Syriac in reading the word “evil” or “disaster” here in place of the word “shepherd” in the Hebrew text. The issue is mainly one of vocalization. The versions mentioned are reading a form מֵרָעָה (mera’ah) instead of מֵרֹעֶה (mero’eh). There does not appear to be any clear case of a prophet being called a shepherd, especially in Jeremiah where it is invariably used of the wicked leaders/rulers of Judah, the leaders/rulers of the enemy that he brings to punish them, or the righteous ruler that he will bring in the future. Moreover, there are no cases where the preposition “after” is used with the verb “shepherd.” Parallelism also argues for the appropriateness of this reading; “disaster” parallels the “incurable day.” The thought also parallels the argument thus far. Other than 11:20; 12:3; 15:15 where he has prayed for vindication by the Lord punishing his persecutors as they deserve, he has invariably responded to the Lord’s word of disaster with laments and prayers for his people (see 4:19-21; 6:24; 8:18; 10:19-25; 14:7-9, 19-22).

[17:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the incurable day.” For the use of this word see the note on 17:9.

[17:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “that which goes out of my lip is right in front of your face.”

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

[137:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “ask us [for] the words of a song.”

[137:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “our [?] joy.” The derivation and meaning of the Hebrew phrase תוֹלָלֵינוּ (tolalenu, “our [?]”) are uncertain. A derivation from תָּלַל (talal, “to mock”) fits contextually, but this root occurs only in the Hiphil stem. For a discussion of various proposals, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 236.

[137:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition.

[137:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the text has prompted emendations (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 236). The translation assumes an emendation to תִּכְשַׁח (tikhshakh), from an otherwise unattested root כשׁח, meaning “to be crippled; to be lame.” See HALOT 502 s.v. כשׁח, which cites Arabic cognate evidence in support of the proposal. The corruption of the MT can be explained as an error of transposition facilitated by the use of שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”) just before this.

[137:6]  ²² tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”

[19:41]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[19:41]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he.”

[19:41]  ²⁵ sn When Jesus approached and saw the city. This is the last travel note in Luke’s account (the so-called Jerusalem journey), as Jesus approached and saw the city before entering it.

[9:1]  ²⁶ sn Rom 9:1–11:36. These three chapters are among the most difficult and disputed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. One area of difficulty is the relationship between Israel and the church, especially concerning the nature and extent of Israel’s election. Many different models have been constructed to express this relationship. For a representative survey, see M. Barth, The People of God (JSNTSup), 22-27. The literary genre of these three chapters has been frequently identified as a diatribe, a philosophical discussion or conversation evolved by the Cynic and Stoic schools of philosophy as a means of popularizing their ideas (E. Käsemann, Romans, 261 and 267). But other recent scholars have challenged the idea that Rom 9–11 is characterized by diatribe. Scholars like R. Scroggs and E. E. Ellis have instead identified the material in question as midrash. For a summary and discussion of the rabbinic connections, see W. R. Stegner, “Romans 9.6-29 – A Midrash,” JSNT 22 (1984): 37-52.

[9:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “my conscience bears witness to me.”

[9:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[9:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “For I would pray.” The implied condition is “if this could save my fellow Jews.”

[9:3]  ³⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.

[9:3]  ³¹ tn Grk “my kinsmen according to the flesh.”