2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.
They did not respond to such correction.
You slaughtered your prophets
like a voracious lion.” 2
4:12 No, 3 a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.
Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ 4
8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem 5
continually turn away from me in apostasy?
They hold fast to their deception. 6
They refuse to turn back to me. 7
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people 8 are being crushed. 9
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. 10
10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. 11
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
12:10 Many foreign rulers 12 will ruin the land where I planted my people. 13
They will trample all over my chosen land. 14
They will turn my beautiful land
into a desolate wasteland.
23:1 The Lord says, 18 “The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. 19 They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered. 20
48:46 Moab, you are doomed! 21
You people who worship Chemosh will be destroyed.
Your sons will be taken away captive.
Your daughters will be carried away into exile. 22
49:17 “Edom will become an object of horror.
All who pass by it will be filled with horror;
they will hiss out their scorn
because of all the disasters that have happened to it. 23
51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. 24
Cry out in mourning over it!
Get medicine for her wounds!
Perhaps she can be healed!
51:18 They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed.
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
1 tn There is nothing in the Hebrew text for these words but it is implicit in the connection. Once again the significance of the vision is spelled out. Compare the translator’s note on v. 12.
2 tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.
3 tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”
4 tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”
4 tc The text is quite commonly emended, changing שׁוֹבְבָה הָעָם (shovÿvah ha’am) to שׁוֹבָב הָעָם (shovav ha’am) and omitting יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yÿrushalaim); this is due to the anomaly of a feminine singular verb with a masculine singular subject and the fact that the word “Jerusalem” is absent from one Hebrew
5 tn Or “to their allegiance to false gods,” or “to their false professions of loyalty”; Heb “to deceit.” Either “to their mistaken beliefs” or “to their allegiance to false gods” would fit the preceding context. The former is more comprehensive than the latter and was chosen for that reason.
6 sn There is a continuing play on the same root word used in the preceding verse. Here the words “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” and “turn back to me” are all forms from the root that was translated “go the wrong way” and “turn around” in v. 4. The intended effect is to contrast Judah’s recalcitrant apostasy with the usual tendency to try and correct one’s mistakes.
5 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
6 tn Heb “Because of the crushing of the daughter of my people I am crushed.”
7 tn Heb “I go about in black [i.e., mourning clothes]. Dismay has seized me.”
6 tn Or “objects of mockery.”
7 tn Heb “Many shepherds.” For the use of the term “shepherd” as a figure for rulers see the notes on 10:21.
8 tn Heb “my vineyard.” To translate literally would presuppose an unlikely familiarity of this figure on the part of some readers. To translate as “vineyards” as some do would be misleading because that would miss the figurative nuance altogether.
9 tn Heb “my portion.”
8 tn Heb “But if they will not listen, I will uproot that nation, uprooting and destroying.” IBHS 590-91 §35.3.2d is likely right in seeing the double infinitive construction here as an intensifying infinitive followed by an adverbial infinitive qualifying the goal of the main verb, “uproot it in such a way as to destroy it.” However, to translate that way “literally” would not be very idiomatic in contemporary English. The translation strives for the equivalent. Likewise, to translate using the conditional structure of the original seems to put the emphasis of the passage in its context on the wrong point.
9 tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the
10 tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.
10 tn Heb “Oracle of the
11 sn Heb This particle once again introduces a judgment speech. The indictment is found in v. 1 and the announcement of judgment in v. 2. This leads into an oracle of deliverance in vv. 3-4. See also the note on the word “judged” in 22:13.
12 tn Heb “Woe to the shepherds who are killing and scattering the sheep of my pasture.” See the study note on 22:13 for the significance of “Sure to be judged” (Heb “Woe”) See the study note for the significance of the metaphor introduced here.
11 tn Heb “Woe to you, Moab.” For the usage of this expression see 4:13, 31; 13:17 and the translator’s note on 4:13 and 10:19.
12 tn Heb “Your sons will be taken away into captivity, your daughters into exile.”
12 sn This verse is very similar to Jer 19:8 where the same judgment is pronounced on Jerusalem. For the meaning of some of the terms here (“hiss out their scorn” and “all the disasters that have happened to it”) see the notes on that verse.
13 tn The verbs in this verse and the following are all in the Hebrew perfect tense, a tense that often refers to a past action or a past action with present results. However, as the translator’s notes have indicated, the prophets use this tense to view the actions as if they were as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The stance here is ideal, viewed as already accomplished.