Jeremiah 2:27

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!’

Jeremiah 3:1

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,

he may not take her back again. ⁴ 

Doing that would utterly defile the land. ⁵ 

But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ⁶ 

So what makes you think you can return to me?” ⁷ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:8

7:8 “‘But just look at you! ⁸  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ⁹  that will not deliver you. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 36:31

36:31 I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ¹¹  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ¹²  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 38:6

38:6 So the officials ¹⁴  took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern ¹⁵  of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, ¹⁶  that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 40:10

40:10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians ¹⁸  whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, ¹⁹  and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 46:27

A Promise of Hope for Israel

46:27 ²¹ “You descendants of Jacob, my servants, ²²  do not be afraid;

do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from the faraway lands where you are captives. ²³ 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them.

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 Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

⁵ tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

⁶ tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

⁷ tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.

⁷ tn Heb “Behold!”

⁸ tn Heb “You are trusting in lying words.” See the similar phrase in v. 4 and the note there.

⁹ tn Heb “not profit [you].”

¹⁰ tn Heb “for their iniquity.”

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 “all the disaster which I spoke against them and they did not listen [or obey].”

¹³ tn Heb “they.”

¹⁴ sn A cistern was a pear-shaped pit with a narrow opening. Cisterns were cut or dug in the limestone rock and lined with plaster to prevent seepage. They were used to collect and store rain water or water carried up from a spring.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the son of the king.” See the translator’s note on Jer 36:26 for the rendering here.

¹⁶ tn Heb “And they let Jeremiah down with ropes and in the cistern there was no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.” The clauses have been reordered and restructured to create a more natural and smoother order in English.

¹⁶ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

¹⁷ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

¹⁸ tn This plus “Things will go well with you” is in essence the substance of the oath. The pronouns are emphatic, “And I, behold I will stay…and you, you may gather.” The imperatives in the second half of the verse are more a form of permission than of command or advice (cf. NJPS, REB, TEV and compare the usage in 40:4 and the references in the translator’s note there).

¹⁹ sn Jer 46:27-28 are virtually the same as 30:10-11. The verses are more closely related to that context than to this. But the presence of a note of future hope for the Egyptians may have led to a note of encouragement also to the Judeans who were under threat of judgment at the same time (cf. the study notes on 46:2, 13 and 25:1-2 for the possible relative dating of these prophecies).

²⁰ tn Heb “And/But you do not be afraid, my servant Jacob.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

²¹ tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”