2:27 They say to a wooden idol, 1 ‘You are my father.’
They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ 2
Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. 3
Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them save you when you are in trouble.
The sad fact is that 4 you have as many gods
as you have towns, Judah.
14:9 Why should you be like someone who is helpless, 5
like a champion 6 who cannot save anyone?
You are indeed with us, 7
and we belong to you. 8
Do not abandon us!”
15:20 I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,
a fortified wall of bronze.
They will attack you,
but they will not be able to overcome you.
For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,” 9
says the Lord.
30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! 10
There has never been any like it.
It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,
but some of them will be rescued out of it. 11
1 tn Heb “wood…stone…”
2 sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”
3 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”
4 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.
7 tn This is the only time this word occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The lexicons generally take it to mean “confused” or “surprised” (cf., e.g., BDB 187 s.v. דָּהַם). However, the word has been found in a letter from the seventh century in a passage where it must mean something like “be helpless”; see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:433, for discussion and bibliography of an article where this letter is dealt with.
8 tn Heb “mighty man, warrior.” For this nuance see 1 Sam 17:51 where it parallels a technical term used of Goliath used earlier in 17:4, 23.
9 tn Heb “in our midst.”
10 tn Heb “Your name is called upon us.” See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 for this idiom with respect to the temple and see the notes on Jer 7:10.
10 sn See 1:18. The
13 tn Heb “Alas [or Woe] for that day will be great.” For the use of the particle “Alas” to signal a time of terrible trouble, even to sound the death knell for someone, see the translator’s note on 22:13.
14 tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”
16 tn For the translation of this term in this context see the parallel context in 23:6 and consult the translator’s note there.
17 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
18 tn Heb “And this is what will be called to it: ‘The