Jeremiah 15:3

15:3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

Jeremiah 25:27

25:27 Then the Lord said to me, ²  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ³  says, ⁴  ‘Drink this cup ⁵  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ⁶  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ⁷ 

Jeremiah 29:17

29:17 The Lord who rules over all ⁸  says, ‘I will bring war, ⁹  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ¹⁰  they cannot be eaten.

Jeremiah 32:24

32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹¹  in order to capture it. War, ¹²  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ¹³  who are attacking it. ¹⁴  Lord, ¹⁵  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 33:4

33:4 For I, the Lord God of Israel, have something more to say about the houses in this city and the royal buildings which have been torn down for defenses against the siege ramps and military incursions of the Babylonians: ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 33:12

33:12 “I, the Lord who rules over all, say: ¹⁸  ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

Jeremiah 42:16

42:16 the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to ¹⁹  Egypt. You will die there. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 49:37

49:37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,

who are seeking to kill them.

I will vent my fierce anger

and bring disaster upon them,” ²¹  says the Lord. ²² 

“I will send armies chasing after them ²³ 

until I have completely destroyed them.

¹ tn The translation attempts to render in understandable English some rather unusual uses of terms here. The verb translated “punish” is often used that way (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3 and compare usage in Jer 11:22, 13:21). However, here it is accompanied by a direct object and a preposition meaning “over” which is usually used in the sense of appointing someone over someone (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.B.1 and compare usage in Jer 51:27). Moreover the word translated “different ways” normally refers to “families,” “clans,” or “guilds” (cf. BDB 1046-47 s.v. מִשְׁפָּחָה for usage). Hence the four things mentioned are referred to figuratively as officers or agents into whose power the Lord consigns them. The Hebrew text reads: “I will appoint over them four guilds, the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.”

² tn The words “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity, to connect this part of the narrative with vv. 15, 17 after the long intervening list of nations who were to drink the cup of God’s wrath in judgment.

³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

⁴ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

⁵ tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.

⁷ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.

³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

⁴ tn Heb “the sword.”

⁵ tn The meaning of this word is somewhat uncertain. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the noun “horrible thing” (translated “something shocking”) in Jer 5:30; 23:14 and defines it as “horrid, disgusting.” HALOT 1495 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the same noun and define it as “rotten; corrupt.” That nuance is accepted here.

⁴ tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

⁵ tn Heb “sword.”

⁶ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

⁷ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

⁸ tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.

⁹ tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”

⁵ tn Heb “the sword.” The figure has been interpreted for the sake of clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For the explanation for the first person introduction see the translator’s notes on 33:2, 10. Verses 4, 10, 12 introduce three oracles, all under the answer to the Lord’s promise to Jeremiah to show him “great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.”

⁷ tn Or “will follow you right into Egypt,” or “will dog your steps all the way to Egypt”; Heb “cling after.” This is the only case of this verb with this preposition in the Qal stem. However, it is used with this preposition several times in the Hiphil, all with the meaning of “to pursue closely.” See BDB 180 s.v. דָּבַק Hiph.2 and compare Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2.

⁸ tn The repetition of the adverb “there” in the translation of vv. 14, 16 is to draw attention to the rhetorical emphasis on the locale of Egypt in the original text of both v. 14 and v. 16. In v. 14 they say, “to the land of Egypt we will go…and there we will live.” In v. 16 God says, “wars…there will catch up with you…the hunger…there will follow after you…and there you will die.” God rhetorically denies their focus on Egypt as a place of safety and of relative prosperity. That can only be found in Judah under the protective presence of the Lord (vv. 10-12).

⁸ tn Heb “I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger.”

⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.”