5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, 12
he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth.
Look, they 13 come quickly and swiftly.
34:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem 14 and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion. 15
3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. 26
I will enter into judgment 27 against them there
concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, 28
whom they scattered among the nations.
They partitioned my land,
2:1 Now 32 in those days a decree 33 went out from Caesar 34 Augustus 35 to register 36 all the empire 37 for taxes.
1 tn Heb “the commandments of the
2 tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
3 tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).
4 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”
5 tn Heb “the
6 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).
7 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”
10 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
11 tn Heb “in order to serve.”
12 tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (lÿgoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (lÿgoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (lÿgoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”) a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.
13 tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.
14 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
15 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
16 tc Theodotion and the Vulgate lack the phrase “and as iron breaks in pieces.”
17 tn The Aramaic text does not have this word, but it has been added in the translation for clarity.
18 tn The words “the others” are supplied from the context.
19 tc The LXX lacks “and toes.”
20 tn Aram “potter’s clay.”
21 tn Aram “clay of clay” (also in v. 43).
22 tc The present translation reads the conjunction, with most medieval Hebrew
23 sn The reference to people being mixed is usually understood to refer to intermarriage.
24 tn Aram “with the seed of men.”
25 tc The present translation reads הֵיךְ דִּי (hekh diy) rather than the MT הֵא־כְדִי (he’-khÿdi). It is a case of wrong word division.
26 sn There is a play on words here. Jehoshaphat in Hebrew means “the Lord has judged,” and the next line in v. 2 further explicates this thought. The location of this valley is uncertain (cf. v. 12). Many interpreters have understood the Valley of Jehoshaphat to be the Kidron Valley, located on the east side of old Jerusalem. Since this is described as a scene of future messianic activity and judgment, many Jews and Muslims have desired to be buried in the vicinity, a fact attested to in modern times by the presence of many graves in the area. A variation of this view is mentioned by Eusebius, Onomasticon 1:10. According to this view, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is located in the Hinnom Valley, on the south side of the old city. Yet another view is held by many modern scholars, who understand the reference to this valley to be one of an idealized and nonliteral scene of judgment.
27 tn Heb “I will execute judgment.”
28 tn Heb “concerning my people and my inheritance Israel.”
29 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
30 tn Grk “he sent his soldiers, destroyed those murderers.” The verb ἀπώλεσεν (apwlesen) is causative, indicating that the king was the one behind the execution of the murderers. In English the causative idea is not expressed naturally here; either a purpose clause (“he sent his soldiers to put those murderers to death”) or a relative clause (“he sent his soldier who put those murderers to death”) is preferred.
31 tn The Greek text reads here πόλις (polis), which could be translated “town” or “city.” The prophetic reference is to the city of Jerusalem, so “city” is more appropriate here.
32 tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
33 sn This decree was a formal decree from the Roman Senate.
34 tn Or “from the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
35 sn Caesar Augustus refers to Octavian, who was Caesar from 27
36 tn Grk “that all the empire should be registered for taxes.” The passive infinitive ἀπογράφεσθαι (apografesqai) has been rendered as an active in the translation to improve the English style. The verb is regarded as a technical term for official registration in tax lists (BDAG 108 s.v. ἀπογράφω a).
37 tn Grk “the whole (inhabited) world,” but this was a way to refer to the Roman empire (L&N 1.83).