Jeremiah 18:6

18:6 “I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? ²  In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

Jeremiah 24:3

24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

Jeremiah 29:17

29:17 The Lord who rules over all ³  says, ‘I will bring war, ⁴  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ⁵  they cannot be eaten.

Jeremiah 31:28

31:28 In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. ⁶  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 32:31

32:31 This will happen because ⁸  the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. ⁹  They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove ¹⁰  it from my sight.

Jeremiah 33:22

33:22 I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.’” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 35:11

35:11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said, ‘Let’s get up and go to Jerusalem ¹²  to get away from the Babylonian ¹³  and Aramean armies.’ That is why we are staying here in Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 38:27

38:27 All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah. ¹⁴  He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. ¹⁵  They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn This phrase (literally “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24.

² tn The words “deals with the clay” are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

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.

⁵ tn Heb “Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and demolish, so I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The words here repeat those of 1:10 and 1:12.

⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁷ tn The statements in vv. 28-29 regarding the certain destruction of the city are motivated by three parallel causal clauses in vv. 30a, b, 31, the last of which extends through subordinate and coordinate clauses until the end of v. 35. An attempt has been made to bring out this structure by repeating the idea “This/it will happen” in front of each of these causal clauses in the English translation.

⁸ tn Heb “from the day they built it until this day.”

⁹ tn Heb “For this city has been to me for a source of my anger and my wrath from the day they built it until this day so as remove it.” The preposition ְל (lamed) with the infinitive (Heb “so as to remove it”; לַהֲסִירָהּ, lahasirah) expresses degree (cf. R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 37, §199, and compare usage in 2 Sam 13:2).

⁹ tn Heb “Just as the stars in the sky cannot be numbered or the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will greatly increase [or multiply] the seed of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The word “seed of” does not carry over to the “the Levites” as a noun governing two genitives because “the Levites” has the accusative marker in front of it. The sentence has been broken down in conformity with contemporary English style.

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹² tn Heb “Chaldean.” For explanation see the study note on 21:4.

¹³ tn Heb “All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “And he reported to them according to all these words which the king had commanded.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “And they were silent from him because the word/matter [i.e., the conversation between Jeremiah and the king] had not been heard.” According to BDB 578 s.v. מִן 1.a the preposition “from” is significant in this construction, implying a verb of motion. I.e., “they were [fell] silent [and turned away] from him.”