6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,
“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,
and houses are uninhabited,
and the land is ruined and devastated,
4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, 6
“The whole land will be desolate;
however, I will not completely destroy it.
9:10 I said, 7
“I will weep and mourn 8 for the grasslands on the mountains, 9
I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness
because they are so scorched no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.
Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields
have fled and are gone.”
9:11 The Lord said, 10
“I will make Jerusalem 11 a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there. 12
I will destroy the towns of Judah
so that no one will be able to live in them.”
10:22 Listen! News is coming even now. 13
The rumble of a great army is heard approaching 14 from a land in the north. 15
It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,
places where only jackals live.
18:16 So their land will become an object of horror. 16
People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.
All who pass that way will be filled with horror
and will shake their heads in derision. 17
33:10 “I, the Lord, say: 21 ‘You and your people are saying 22 about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem 23 will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.
33:12 “I, the Lord who rules over all, say: 24 ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.
7:13 The earth will become desolate 25
because of what its inhabitants have done. 26
1 tn The Hebrew verb translated “wiped out” is used to describe the judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23).
2 sn The phrase you will know that I am the
3 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
4 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
5 tn Heb “lip of the tongue.”
6 tn Heb “For this is what the
7 tn The words “I said” are not in the text, but there is general agreement that Jeremiah is the speaker. Cf. the lament in 8:18-9:1. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some English versions follow the Greek text which reads a plural imperative here. Since this reading would make the transition between 9:10 and 9:11 easier it is probably not original but a translator’s way of smoothing over a difficulty.
8 tn Heb “I will lift up weeping and mourning.”
9 tn Heb “for the mountains.” However, the context makes clear that it is the grasslands or pastures on the mountains that are meant. The words “for the grasslands” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
10 tn The words “the
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.”
13 tn Heb “The sound of a report, behold, it is coming.”
14 tn Heb “ coming, even a great quaking.”
15 sn Compare Jer 6:22.
16 tn There may be a deliberate double meaning involved here. The word translated here “an object of horror” refers both to destruction (cf. 2:15; 4:17) and the horror or dismay that accompanies it (cf. 5:30; 8:21). The fact that there is no conjunction or preposition in front of the noun “hissing” that follows this suggests that the reaction is in view here, not the cause.
17 tn Heb “an object of lasting hissing. All who pass that way will be appalled and shake their head.”
18 tn Heb “Thus says the
19 tn Heb “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of…”
20 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
21 tn Heb “Thus says the
22 tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For the explanation for the first person introduction see the translator’s notes on 33:2, 10. Verses 4, 10, 12 introduce three oracles, all under the answer to the
25 tn Or “will be ruined.”
26 tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”
27 tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).