Jeremiah 15:8

15:8 Their widows will become in my sight more numerous ¹ 

than the grains of sand on the seashores.

At noontime I will bring a destroyer

against the mothers of their young men. ² 

I will cause anguish ³  and terror

to fall suddenly upon them. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 15:10

Jeremiah Complains about His Lot and The Lord Responds

15:10 I said, ⁵ 

“Oh, mother, how I regret ⁶  that you ever gave birth to me!

I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ⁷ 

I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.

Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 16:7

16:7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

Jeremiah 22:26

22:26 I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to ⁹  a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there.

Jeremiah 52:1

The Fall of Jerusalem

52:1 ¹⁰ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem ¹¹  for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal ¹²  daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

¹ tn Heb “to me.” BDB 513 s.v. ל 5.a(d) compares the usage of the preposition “to” here to that in Jonah 3:3, “Nineveh was a very great city to God [in God’s estimation].” The NEB/REB interpret as though it were the agent after a passive verb, “I have made widows more numerous.” Most English versions ignore it. The present translation follows BDB though the emphasis on God’s agency has been strong in the passage.

² tn The translation of this line is a little uncertain because of the double prepositional phrase which is not represented in this translation or most of the others. The Hebrew text reads: “I will bring in to them, against mother of young men, a destroyer at noon time.” Many commentaries delete the phrase with the Greek text. If the preposition read “against” like the following one this would be a case of apposition of nearer definition. There is some evidence of that in the Targum and the Syriac according to BHS. Both nouns “mothers” and “young men” are translated as plural here though they are singular; they are treated by most as collectives. It would be tempting to translate these two lines “In broad daylight I have brought destroyers against the mothers of her fallen young men.” But this may be too interpretive. In the light of 6:4, noontime was a good time to attack. NJPS has “I will bring against them – young men and mothers together – ….” In this case “mother” and “young men” would be a case of asyndetic coordination.

³ tn This word is used only here and in Hos 11:9. It is related to the root meaning “to rouse” (so BDB 735 s.v. I עִיר). Here it refers to the excitement or agitation caused by terror. In Hos 11:9 it refers to the excitement or arousal of anger.

⁴ tn The “them” in the Hebrew text is feminine referring to the mothers.

⁵ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to mark a shift in the speaker.

⁶ tn Heb “Woe to me, my mother.” See the comments on 4:13 and 10:19.

⁷ tn Heb “A man of strife and a man of contention with all the land.” The “of” relationship (Hebrew and Greek genitive) can convey either subjective or objective relationships, i.e., he instigates strife and contention or he is the object of it. A study of usage elsewhere, e.g., Isa 41:11; Job 31:35; Prov 12:19; 25:24; 26:21; 27:15, is convincing that it is subjective. In his role as God’s covenant messenger charging people with wrong doing he has instigated counterarguments and stirred about strife and contention against him.

⁸ tc The translation follows the almost universally agreed upon correction of the MT. Instead of reading כֻּלֹּה מְקַלְלַונִי (kulloh mÿqallavni, “all of him is cursing me”) as the Masoretes proposed (Qere) one should read קִלְלוּנִי (qilluni) with the written text (Kethib) and redivide and repoint with the suggestion in BHS כֻּלְּהֶם (qullÿhem, “all of them are cursing me”).

⁹ tn Heb “I will hurl you and your mother…into another land where…” The verb used here is very forceful. It is the verb used for Saul throwing a spear at David (1 Sam 18:11) and for the Lord unleashing a violent storm on the sea (Jonah 1:4). It is used both here and in v. 28 for the forceful exile of Jeconiah and his mother.

¹³ sn This final chapter does not mention Jeremiah, but its description of the downfall of Jerusalem and exile of the people validates the prophet’s ministry.

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ tn Some textual witnesses support the Kethib (consonantal text) in reading “Hamital.”