Jeremiah 13:7

13:7 So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

Jeremiah 13:10

13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ³  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ⁴  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ⁵  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

¹ tn Heb “dug and took.”

² tn Heb “And behold.”

³ tn Heb “to listen to my words.”

⁴ tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

⁵ 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.