2:20 “Indeed, 1 long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me. 2
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ 3
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 4
23:34 “For this reason I 9 am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, 10 some of whom you will kill and crucify, 11 and some you will flog 12 in your synagogues 13 and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, 14 whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, 15 this generation will be held responsible for all these things! 16
23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 17 you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! 18 How often I have longed 19 to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 20 you would have none of it! 21
7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” 43
1 tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.
2 tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.
3 tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.
4 tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.
5 tn The translation again represents an attempt to break up a long complex Hebrew sentence into equivalent English ones that conform more to contemporary English style: Heb “And as soon as Jeremiah finished saying all that…the priests…grabbed him and said…” The word “some” has been supplied in the translation, because obviously it was not all the priests, the prophets, and all the people, but only some of them. There is, of course, rhetorical intent here to show that all were implicated, although all may not have actually participated. (This is a common figure called synecdoche where all is put for a part – all for all kinds or representatives of all kinds. See E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 614-19, and compare usage in Acts 10:12; Matt 3:5.)
6 tn Or “You must certainly die!” The construction here is again emphatic with the infinitive preceding the finite verb (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Exod 21:28).
7 tn Heb “Why have you prophesied in the
8 tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”
9 tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
10 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
11 sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.
12 tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”
13 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.
14 sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).
15 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
16 tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”
17 sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.
18 tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).
19 sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.
20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
21 tn Grk “you were not willing.”
22 sn The effect of what the experts in the law were doing was to deny the message of the prophets and thus honor their death by supporting those who had sought their removal. The charge that this is what previous generations did shows the problem is chronic. As T. W. Manson said, the charge here is “The only prophet you honor is a dead prophet!” (The Sayings of Jesus, 101).
23 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
24 tn Grk “you are witnesses and approve of.”
25 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
26 tn Grk “them”; the referent (the prophets) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 tn “Their,” i.e., the prophets.
28 tc The majority of
29 sn The expression the wisdom of God is a personification of an attribute of God that refers to his wise will.
30 tn Or “that this generation may be charged with”; or “the blood of all the prophets… may be required from this generation.” This is a warning of judgment. These people are responsible for the shedding of prophetic blood.
31 tn Or “foundation.” However, this does not suggest a time to the modern reader.
32 tn The order of the clauses in this complicated sentence has been rearranged to simplify it for the modern reader.
33 sn Gen 4:10 indicates that Abel’s blood cried out for justice.
34 sn It is not clear which Zechariah is meant here. It is probably the person mentioned in 2 Chr 24:20-25.
35 tn Or “who perished.”
36 tn Or “and the temple”; Grk “and the house,” but in this context a reference to the house of God as a place of sanctuary.
37 tn Or “required from.”
38 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
39 sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
40 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
41 sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
42 sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).
43 tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).
44 tn Grk “These men are not drunk, as you suppose.”
45 tn Grk “only the third hour.”
46 sn Note how in the quotation that follows all genders, ages, and classes are included. The event is like a hope Moses expressed in Num 11:29.