32:21 They have made me jealous 1 with false gods, 2
enraging me with their worthless gods; 3
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, 4
with a nation slow to learn 5 I will enrage them.
32:31 For our enemies’ 6 rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 10 has given you to possess. 11
16:13 You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters 12 for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. 13
115:8 Those who make them will end up 14 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
10:8 The people of those nations 15 are both stupid and foolish.
Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! 16
10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. 17
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
1 sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.
2 tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”
3 tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).
4 tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
5 tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”
6 tn Heb “their,” but the referent (enemies) is specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
7 tn Heb “the
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in your own community.”
10 tn Heb “fathers.”
11 tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the
12 tn The Hebrew phrase חַג הַסֻּכֹּת (khag hassukot, “festival of huts” or “festival of shelters”) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is now preferable to the traditional “tabernacles” (KJV, ASV, NIV) in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. Clearer is the English term “shelters” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but this does not reflect the temporary nature of the living arrangement. This feast was a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt, suggesting that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.
13 tn Heb “when you gather in your threshing-floor and winepress.”
14 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
15 tn Or “Those wise people and kings are…” It is unclear whether the subject is the “they” of the nations in the preceding verse, or the wise people and kings referred to. The text merely has “they.”
16 tn Heb “The instruction of vanities [worthless idols] is wood.” The meaning of this line is a little uncertain. Various proposals have been made to make sense, most of which involve radical emendation of the text. For some examples see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 323-24, fn 6. However, this is probably a case of the bold predication that discussed in GKC 452 §141.d, some examples of which may be seen in Ps 109:4 “I am prayer,” and Ps 120:7 “I am peace.”
17 tn Or “objects of mockery.”
18 tn Or “the master of ceremonies.”