51:13 Why do you forget 1 the Lord, who made you,
who stretched out the sky 2
and founded the earth?
Why do you constantly tremble all day long 3
at the anger of the oppressor,
when he makes plans to destroy?
Where is the anger of the oppressor? 4
8:11 Be sure you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today.
9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; 8
this is the destiny of 9 all the nations that ignore 10 God,
106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done; 11
they did not wait for his instructions. 12
106:21 They rejected 13 the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,
2:32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?
Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?
But my people have forgotten me
for more days than can even be counted.
17:13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. 14
All who leave you will suffer shame.
Those who turn away from you 15 will be consigned to the nether world. 16
For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. 17
2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols; 18
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but 19 she forgot me!” 20 says the Lord.
2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; 21
I will lead 22 her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
4:6 You have destroyed 23 my people
by failing to acknowledge me!
Because you refuse to acknowledge me, 24
I will reject you as my priests.
Because you reject 25 the law of your God,
I will reject 26 your descendants.
8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,
and Judah has built many fortified cities.
But I will send fire on their cities;
it will consume their royal citadels.
13:6 When they were fed, 27 they became satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud; 28
as a result, they forgot me!
13:7 So 29 I will pounce on them like a lion; 30
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
1 tn Heb “and that you forget.”
2 tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
3 tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”
4 tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.
5 tn Heb “out of the house of slavery” (so NASB, NRSV).
6 tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.
7 tn Heb “if forgetting, you forget.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis; the translation indicates this with the words “at all” (cf. KJV).
8 tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the
9 tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).
10 tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.
11 tn Heb “his works.”
12 tn Heb “his counsel.”
13 tn Heb “forgot.”
14 tn Heb “O glorious throne, O high place from the beginning, O hope of Israel, O
15 tc The translation is based on an emendation suggested in W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:500, n. b-b. The emendation involves following the reading preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere) and understanding the preposition with the following word as a corruption of the suffix on it. Thus the present translation reads וּסוּרֶיךָ אֶרֶץ (usurekha ’erets) instead of וּסוּרַי בָּאֶרֶץ (usuray ba’erets, “and those who leave me will be written in the earth”), a reading which is highly improbable since all the other pronouns are second singular.
16 tn Or “to the world of the dead.” An alternative interpretation is: “will be as though their names were written in the dust”; Heb “will be written in the dust.” The translation follows the nuance of “earth” listed in HALOT 88 s.v. אֶרֶץ 4 and found in Jonah 2:6 (2:7 HT); Job 10:21-22. For the nuance of “enrolling, registering among the number” for the verb translated here “consign” see BDB 507 s.v. כָּתַב Qal.3 and 508 s.v. Niph.2 and compare usage in Ezek 13:9 and Ps 69:28 (69:29 HT).
17 tn Heb “The fountain of living water.” For an earlier use of this metaphor and the explanation of it see Jer 2:13 and the notes there. There does not appear to be any way to retain this metaphor in the text without explaining it. In the earlier text the context would show that literal water was not involved. Here it might still be assumed that the
18 tn Heb “the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense.” The word “festival” is supplied to clarify the referent of “days,” and the word “idols” is supplied in light of the plural “Baals” (cf. NLT “her images of Baal”).
19 tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.
20 tn The accusative direct object pronoun וְאֹתִי (vé’oti, “me”) is emphatic in the word order of this clause (cf. NIV “but me she forgot”), emphasizing the heinous inappropriateness of Israel’s departure from the
21 tn The participle מְפַתֶּיהָ (méfatteha, Piel participle masculine singular + 3rd feminine singular suffix from פָּתָה, patah, “to allure”) following the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Now!”) describes an event that will occur in the immediate or near future.
22 tn Following the future-time referent participle (מְפַתֶּיהָ, méfatteha) there is a string of perfects introduced by vav consecutive that refer to future events.
23 tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
24 tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”
25 tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”
26 tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”
27 tc The MT reads כְּמַרְעִיתָם (kÿmar’itam, “according to their pasturage”; preposition כְּ (kaf) + noun מַרְעִית, mar’it, “pasture” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix). Text-critics propose: (1) כְּמוֹ רְעִיתִים (kÿmo rÿ’itim, “as I pastured them”; preposition כְּמוֹ (kÿmo) + Qal perfect 1st person common singular from רָעַה, ra’ah, “to pasture, feed” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) and (2) כִּרְעוֹתָם (“when they had pastured”; preposition כְּ + Qal perfect 3rd person masculine plural from רָעַה). Some English versions follow the MT: “according to their pasture” (KJV), “as they had their pasture” (NASB), “when you entered the good land” (TEV). Others adopt the first emendation: “when I fed them” (NIV, NRSV), “I fed you [sic = them]” (CEV). Still others follow the second emendation: “but when they had fed to the full” (RSV), “when they grazed” (NJPS).
28 tn Heb “their heart became exalted”; KJV, ASV “was exalted.”
29 tn The vav consecutive + preterite form וָאֱהִי (va’ehi) introduces a consequential or result clause; cf. NAB “Therefore”; NCV “That is why.”
30 tn Heb “So I will be like a lion to them” (so NASB); NIV “I will come upon them like a lion.”