Text -- Jeremiah 12:17 (NET)

12:17 But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jer 12:17

¹ tn Heb “But if they will not listen, I will uproot that nation, uprooting and destroying.” IBHS 590-91 §35.3.2d is likely right in seeing the double infinitive construction here as an intensifying infinitive followed by an adverbial infinitive qualifying the goal of the main verb, “uproot it in such a way as to destroy it.” However, to translate that way “literally” would not be very idiomatic in contemporary English. The translation strives for the equivalent. Likewise, to translate using the conditional structure of the original seems to put the emphasis of the passage in its context on the wrong point.