3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. 4 Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.
28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!
Pay them back for what they do!
Punish them! 5
109:5 They repay me evil for good, 6
and hate for love.
109:6 7 Appoint an evil man to testify against him! 8
May an accuser stand 9 at his right side!
109:7 When he is judged, he will be found 10 guilty! 11
Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.
109:8 May his days be few! 12
May another take his job! 13
109:9 May his children 14 be fatherless,
and his wife a widow!
109:10 May his children 15 roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! 16
109:11 May the creditor seize 17 all he owns!
May strangers loot his property! 18
109:12 May no one show him kindness! 19
May no one have compassion 20 on his fatherless children!
109:13 May his descendants 21 be cut off! 22
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! 23
109:14 May his ancestors’ 24 sins be remembered by the Lord!
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! 25
109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, 26
and cut off the memory of his children 27 from the earth!
109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; 28
he harassed the oppressed and needy,
and killed the disheartened. 29
109:17 He loved to curse 30 others, so those curses have come upon him. 31
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 32
109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 33
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 34
109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, 35
or a belt 36 one wears continually!
109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, 37
those who say evil things about 38 me! 39
15:15 I said, 40
“Lord, you know how I suffer. 41
Take thought of me and care for me.
Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me.
Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me.
Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.
18:19 Then I said, 42
“Lord, pay attention to me.
Listen to what my enemies are saying. 43
18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?
Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. 44
Just remember how I stood before you
pleading on their behalf 45
to keep you from venting your anger on them. 46
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 47
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 48
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses
when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. 49
For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden traps for me to step into.
18:23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill me.
Do not pardon their crimes!
Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! 50
Let them be brought down in defeat before you!
Deal with them while you are still angry! 51
1:6 I answered, “Oh, Lord God, 54 I really 55 do not know how to speak well enough for that, 56 for I am too young.” 57
1:1 The following is a record of what Jeremiah son of Hilkiah prophesied. 58 He was one of the priests who lived at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.
5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. 59
Their arrows will send you to your grave. 60
18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has pronounced judgment 67 against her on your behalf!) 68
1 tn Heb “to search [for].”
2 tn Heb “upon the face of.”
3 tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).
4 tn Heb “before Eli.”
5 tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.
6 tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”
7 sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the
8 tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”
9 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).
10 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.
11 tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).
12 tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.
13 tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.
14 tn Or “sons.”
15 tn Or “sons.”
16 tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.
17 tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).
18 tn Heb “the product of his labor.”
19 tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”
20 tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).
21 tn Or “offspring.”
22 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
23 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
24 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
25 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”
26 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the
27 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.
28 tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”
29 tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”
30 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
31 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
32 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
33 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
34 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”
35 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
36 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
37 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the
38 tn Or “against.”
39 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
40 tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to mark the shift from the
41 tn The words “how I suffer” are not in the text but are implicit from the continuation. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not saying “you are all knowing.”
42 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples’ plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.
43 tn Heb “the voice of my adversaries.”
44 tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.
45 tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.
46 tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”
47 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
48 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
49 tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.
50 sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).
51 tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”
52 tn Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
53 tn Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”
54 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.”
55 tn Heb “Behold, I do not know how to speak.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, commonly rendered “behold”) often introduces a speech and calls special attention to a specific word or the statement as a whole (see IBHS 675-78 §40.2.1).
56 tn The words “well enough for that” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not claiming an absolute inability to speak.
57 tn Heb “I am a boy/youth.” The Hebrew word can refer to an infant (Exod 2:6), a young boy (1 Sam 2:11), a teenager (Gen 21:12), or a young man (2 Sam 18:5). The translation is deliberately ambiguous since it is unclear how old Jeremiah was when he was called to begin prophesying.
58 tn Or “This is a record of what Jeremiah prophesied and did”; Heb “The words [or affairs] of Jeremiah.” The phrase could refer to either the messages of Jeremiah recorded in the book or to both his messages and the biographical (and autobiographical) narratives recorded about him in the book. Since the phrase is intended to serve as the title or superscription for the whole book and recurs again in 51:64 at the end of the book before the final appendix, it might refer to the latter. The expression “The words of [someone]” is a standard introductory formula (Deut 29:1[28:69]; 2 Sam 23:1; Amos 1:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).
59 tn Heb “All of them are mighty warriors.”
60 tn Heb “his quiver [is] an open grave.” The order of the lines has been reversed to make the transition from “nation” to “their arrows” easier.
61 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
62 tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.
63 tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.
64 tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).
65 tn The word “others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
66 tn On this term BDAG 252 s.v. διπλόω states, “to double τὰ διπλᾶ pay back double Rv 18:6.”
67 tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”
68 tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.