Jeremiah 1:18

1:18 I, the Lord, ¹  hereby promise to make you ²  as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in ³  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ⁴ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ⁵ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters ⁷  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ⁸ 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 38:2

38:2 “The Lord says, ‘Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. ¹⁰  Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians ¹¹  will live. They will escape with their lives.’” ¹² 

Jeremiah 46:26

46:26 I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops, who want to kill them. But later on, people will live in Egypt again as they did in former times. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 51:17

51:17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

Jeremiah 51:25

51:25 The Lord says, ¹⁴  “Beware! I am opposed to you, Babylon! ¹⁵ 

You are like a destructive mountain that destroys all the earth.

I will unleash my power against you; ¹⁶ 

I will roll you off the cliffs and make you like a burned-out mountain. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn See the note on “Jeremiah” at the beginning of v. 17.

² tn Heb “today I have made you.” The Hebrew verb form here emphasizes the certainty of a yet future act; the Lord is promising to protect Jeremiah from any future attacks which may result from his faithfully carrying out his commission. See a similar use of the same Hebrew verb tense in v. 9, and see the translator’s note there.

³ tn Heb “I make you a fortified city…against all the land….” The words “as strong as” and “so you will be able to stand against all the people of…” are given to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

⁴ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

⁵ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

⁶ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

⁷ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

⁸ tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

⁹ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

¹⁰ tn Heb “by sword, by starvation, or by disease.”

¹¹ tn Heb “those who go out to the Chaldeans.” For the rendering “Babylonians” for “Chaldeans” see the study note on 21:4.

¹² tn Heb “his life will be to him for spoil and he will live.” For the meaning of this idiom see the study note on 21:9. The words and “he will live” have been left out of the translation because they are redundant after “will live” and “they will escape with their lives.”

¹³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁷ tn The word “Babylon” is not in the text but is universally understood as the referent. It is supplied in the translation here to clarify the referent for the sake of the average reader.

¹⁸ tn Heb “I will reach out my hand against you.” See the translator’s note on 6:12 for explanation.

¹⁹ tn Heb “I am against you, oh destroying mountain that destroys all the earth. I will reach out my hand against you and roll you down from the cliffs and make you a mountain of burning.” The interpretation adopted here follows the lines suggested by S. R. Driver, Jeremiah, 318, n. c and reflected also in BDB 977 s.v. שְׂרֵפָה. Babylon is addressed as a destructive mountain because it is being compared to a volcano. The Lord, however, will make it a “burned-out mountain,” i.e., an extinct volcano which is barren and desolate. This interpretation seems to this translator to fit the details of the text more consistently than alternative ones which separate the concept of “destroying/destructive” from “mountain” and explain the figure of the mountain to refer to the dominating political position of Babylon and the reference to a “mountain of burning” to be a “burned [or burned over] mountain.” The use of similes in place of metaphors makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figures and also more easily incorporates the dissonant figure of “rolling you down from the cliffs” which involves the figure of personification.