11:18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding. 1
Then he showed me what the people were doing. 2
17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.
I examine people’s hearts. 3
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’
says the Lord. 4
‘I will set fire to your palace;
it will burn up everything around it.’” 5
23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, 6
they would have proclaimed my message to my people.
They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways
and stop doing the evil things they are doing.
4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done 7
will bring this on you.
This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. 8
The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” 9
4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin
as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,
you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord
and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, 23
people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
If you do not, 24 my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you
that no one will be able to extinguish.
That will happen because of the evil you have done.”
21:12 O royal family descended from David. 29
The Lord says:
‘See to it that people each day 30 are judged fairly. 31
Deliver those who have been robbed from those 32 who oppress them.
Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.
It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out
because of the evil that you have done. 33
1 tn Heb “caused me to know that I might know.” Many English versions supply an unstated object “their plots” which is referred to later in the context (cf. v. 19). The presupposition of this kind of absolute ellipsis is difficult to justify and would create the need for understanding an ellipsis of “it” also after “I knew.” It is better to see a bipolar use of the verb “know” here. For the second use of the verb “know” meaning “have understanding” see BDB 394 s.v. ָידַע Qal.5.
2 tn Heb “Then you showed me their deeds.” This is another example of the rapid shift in person which is common in Jeremiah. As elsewhere, it has been resolved for the sake of avoiding confusion for the English reader by leveling the referent to the same person throughout. The text again involves an apostrophe, talking about the
3 tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.
5 tn Heb “oracle of the
6 tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.
7 tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.
9 tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”
10 tn Heb “How bitter!”
11 tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.
11 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”
12 tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.
13 tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.
13 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
14 tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
15 tn Heb “will turn from his wicked way.”
16 tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.
17 tn Heb “because of the wickedness of their deeds.”
17 tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.
18 tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.
19 tn Heb “[you are] great in counsel and mighty in deed.”
20 tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”
21 tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”
21 tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the
22 tn Heb “lest.”
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.
25 tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.
26 tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.
25 tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.
26 tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.
27 sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.
28 tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”
29 tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”
27 tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.
28 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
29 tn Heb “Oracle of the
29 tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”
30 tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.
31 tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.
31 tn Heb “And/Then the
33 tn Heb “Turn, each of you, from his [= your] wicked way and make good your deeds.” Compare 18:11 where the same idiom occurs with the added term of “make good your ways.”
34 tn Heb “Don’t go after/follow other gods.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom and see 11:10; 13:10; 25:6 for the same idiom.