16:19 Then I said, 6
“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.
You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. 7
Nations from all over the earth
will come to you and say,
‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –
worthless idols that could not help them at all. 8
1 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the
2 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).
3 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.
4 tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.
5 sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.
6 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.
7 tn Heb “O
8 tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”