“‘The fathers eat sour grapes
And the children’s teeth become numb?’ 3
20:32 “‘What you plan 7 will never happen. You say, “We will be 8 like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” 9
33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 11 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.
34:23 I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David. 12 He will feed them and will be their shepherd.
36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: 15 I will multiply their people like sheep. 16
1 tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
2 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
3 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Jer 31:29-30 in the Qal stem and in Eccl 10:10 in the Piel stem. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the idea is of the “bluntness” of the teeth, not from having ground them down due to the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.
4 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
5 sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.
5 tn The Hebrew word (“Bamah”) means “high place.”
6 tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”
7 tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”
8 tn Heb “serving wood and stone.”
7 tc Thus the Masoretic Text. The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew read “cause to inhabit.”
8 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
9 sn The messianic king is here called “David” (see Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5, as well as Isa 11:1 and Mic 5:2) because he will fulfill the Davidic royal ideal depicted in the prophets and royal psalms (see Ps 2, 89).
10 sn A promise given to Abraham (Gen 15:7) and his descendants (Gen 15:8; Exod 6:7).
11 sn The blessings described in vv. 25-30 are those promised for obedience in Lev 26:4-13.
11 tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
12 sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
12 tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.