28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you 1 in everything you undertake 2 until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 3
3:8 Jerusalem certainly stumbles,
Judah falls,
for their words and their actions offend the Lord; 4
they rebel against his royal authority. 5
3:9 The look on their faces 6 testifies to their guilt; 7
like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. 8
Too bad for them! 9
For they bring disaster on themselves.
3:10 Tell the innocent 10 it will go well with them, 11
for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 12
3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners!
For they will get exactly what they deserve. 13
4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin
as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,
you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord
and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, 14
people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
If you do not, 15 my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you
that no one will be able to extinguish.
That will happen because of the evil you have done.”
9:15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hate them there.
On account of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my land. 25
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
2:6 Therefore, I will soon 26 fence her in 27 with thorns;
I will wall her in 28 so that 29 she cannot find her way. 30
2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch 31 them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them. 32
Then she will say,
“I will go back 33 to my husband, 34
because I was better off then than I am now.” 35
2:8 Yet 36 until now 37 she has refused to acknowledge 38 that I 39 was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who 40 lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they 41 used in worshiping Baal! 42
2:9 Therefore, I will take back 43 my grain during the harvest time 44
and my new wine when it ripens; 45
I will take away my wool and my flax
which I had provided 46 in order to clothe her. 47
2:10 Soon 48 I will expose her lewd nakedness 49 in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me! 50
2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities –
all her appointed festivals.
1 tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”
2 tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
3 tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.
4 tn Heb “for their tongue and their deeds [are] to the Lord.”
5 tn Heb “to rebel [against] the eyes of his majesty.” The word כָּבוֹד (kavod) frequently refers to the Lord’s royal splendor that is an outward manifestation of his authority as king.
6 sn This refers to their proud, arrogant demeanor.
7 tn Heb “answers against them”; NRSV “bears witness against them.”
8 tn Heb “their sin, like Sodom, they declare, they do not conceal [it].”
9 tn Heb “woe to their soul.”
10 tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”
11 tn Heb “that it is good.”
12 tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”
13 tn Heb “for the work of his hands will be done to him.”
14 tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the
15 tn Heb “lest.”
16 tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”
17 tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.
18 sn Heb “plant.” The terms “uproot,” “tear down,” “destroy,” “build,” and “plant” are the two sides of the ministry Jeremiah was called to (cf. Jer 1:10).
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20 sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.
21 tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.
22 tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.
23 tn Heb “ways.”
24 tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”
25 tn Heb “out of my house” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV, NCV, NLT “my land.”
26 tn The deictic particle הִנְנִי (hinni, “Behold!”) introduces a future-time reference participle that refers to imminent future action: “I am about to” (TEV “I am going to”).
27 tn Heb “I will hedge up her way”; NIV “block her path.”
28 tn Heb “I will wall in her wall.” The cognate accusative construction וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת־גְּדֵרָהּ (vÿgadarti ’et-gÿderah, “I will wall in her wall”) is an emphatic literary device. The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun functions as a dative of disadvantage: “as a wall against her” (A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 3, remark 2). The expression means “I will build a wall to bar her way.” Cf. KJV “I will make a wall”; TEV “I will build a wall”; RSV, NASB, NRSV “I will build a wall against her”; NLT “I will fence her in.”
29 tn The disjunctive clause (object followed by negated verb) introduces a clause which can be understood as either purpose or result.
30 tn Heb “her paths” (so NAB, NRSV).
31 tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NLT “be able to catch up with.”
32 tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct object pronoun אֹתָם (’otam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτους (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.
33 tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elkhah vÿ’ashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.
34 tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.
35 tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).
36 tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).
37 tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
38 tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”
39 tn The 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular: “I gave”).
40 tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
41 sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites who had been unfaithful to the
42 tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”
43 tn Heb “I will return and I will take.” The two verbs joined with vav conjunction form a verbal hendiadys in which the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h): אָשׁוּב וְלָקַחְתִּי (’ashuv vÿlaqakhti) means “I will take back.”
44 tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).
45 tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
46 tn The words “which I had provided” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NIV “intended to cover.”
47 tn Heb “to cover her nakedness” (so KJV and many other English versions); TEV “for clothing.”
48 tn The particle עַתָּה (’attah) often refers to the imminent or the impending future: “very soon” (BDB 774 s.v. עַתָּה 1.b). In Hosea it normally introduces imminent judgment (Hos 2:12; 4:16; 5:7; 8:8, 13; 10:2).
49 tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”
50 tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”