2:14 “Israel is not a slave, is he?
He was not born into slavery, was he? 1
If not, why then is he being carried off?
4:13 Look! The enemy is approaching like gathering clouds. 2
The roar of his chariots is like that of a whirlwind. 3
His horses move more swiftly than eagles.”
I cry out, 4 “We are doomed, 5 for we will be destroyed!”
4:20 I see 6 one destruction after another taking place,
so that the whole land lies in ruins.
I see our 7 tents suddenly destroyed,
their 8 curtains torn down in a mere instant. 9
4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, 10
you accomplish nothing 11 by wearing a beautiful dress, 12
decking yourself out in jewels of gold,
and putting on eye shadow! 13
You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers spurn you.
They want to kill you. 14
5:2 Our inheritance 16 is turned over to strangers;
foreigners now occupy our homes. 17
2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –
they will mock you with this lament: 18
‘We are completely destroyed;
they sell off 19 the property of my people.
How they remove it from me! 20
They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ 21
1 tn Heb “Is Israel a slave? Or is he a house born slave?” The questions are rhetorical, expecting a negative answer.
2 tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.
3 tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.
4 tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the
5 tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.
6 tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.
7 tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.
8 tn Heb “my.”
9 tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.
10 tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.
11 tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.
12 tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”
13 tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.
14 tn Heb “they seek your life.”
15 tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”
16 tn Heb “Our inheritance”; or “Our inherited possessions/property.” The term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) has a range of meanings: (1) “inheritance,” (2) “portion, share” and (3) “possession, property.” The land of Canaan was given by the
17 tn Heb “our homes [are turned over] to foreigners.”
18 tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).
19 tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”
20 tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
21 tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).