Jeremiah 11:6-8

11:6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹  and carry them out! 11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ²  I warned them again and again, ³  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 11:8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 13:9-10

13:9 “I, the Lord, say: ⁵  ‘This shows how ⁶  I will ruin the highly exalted position ⁷  in which Judah and Jerusalem ⁸  take pride. 13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ⁹  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ¹⁰  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ¹¹  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

Jeremiah 26:5

26:5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. ¹²  But you have not paid any attention to them.

Jeremiah 36:23-24

36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ¹³  of the scroll, the king ¹⁴  would cut them off with a penknife ¹⁵  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ¹⁶  36:24 Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “the terms of this covenant.” However, this was a separate message and the ambiguity of “this” could still cause some confusion.

² tn Heb “warned them…saying, ‘Obey me.’” However, it allows the long sentence to be broken up easier if the indirect quote is used.

³ tn For the explanation for this rendering see the note on 7:13.

⁴ tn Heb “So I brought on them all the terms of this covenant which I commanded to do and they did not do.” There is an interesting polarity that is being exploited by two different nuances implicit in the use of the word “terms” (דִּבְרֵי [divre], literally “words”), i.e., what the Lord “brings on” them, namely, the curses that are the penalty for disobedience and the stipulations that they are “to do,” that is, to carry out. The sentence is broken up this way in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid the long and complicated style of the original.

⁵ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.”

⁶ tn In a sense this phrase which is literally “according to thus” or simply “thus” points both backward and forward: backward to the acted out parable and forward to the explanation which follows.

⁷ tn Many of the English versions have erred in rendering this word “pride” or “arrogance” with the resultant implication that the Lord is going to destroy Israel’s pride, i.e., humble them through the punishment of exile. However, BDB 144-45 s.v. גָּאוֹן 1 is more probably correct when they classify this passage among those that deal with the “‘majesty, excellence’ of nations, their wealth, power, magnificence of buildings….” The closest parallels to the usage here are in Zech 10:11 (parallel to scepter of Egypt); Ps 47:4 (47:5 HT; parallel to “our heritage” = “our land”); Isa 14:11; and Amos 8:7. The term is further defined in v. 11 where it refers to their special relationship and calling. To translate it “pride” or “arrogance” also ruins the wordplay on “ruin” (נִשְׁחַת [nishkhat] in v. 7 and אַשְׁחִית [’ashkhit] in v. 9).

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ tn Heb “to listen to my words.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

¹¹ tn The structure of this verse is a little unusual. It consists of a subject, “this wicked people” qualified by several “which” clauses preceding a conjunction and a form which would normally be taken as a third person imperative (a Hebrew jussive; וִיהִי, vihi). This construction, called casus pendens by Hebrew grammarians, lays focus on the subject, here calling attention to the nature of Israel’s corruption which makes it rotten and useless to God. See GKC 458 §143.d for other examples of this construction.

¹² tn See the translator’s note on 7:13 for the idiom here.

¹³ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

¹⁴ tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.

¹⁵ sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.

¹⁶ tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.” The sentence has been broken up into two shorter sentences to better conform to English style and some of the terms explained (e.g., tore their clothes) for the sake of clarity.

¹⁸ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.