Jeremiah 2:28

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 ¹  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Jeremiah 2:17

2:17 You have brought all this on yourself, Israel, ² 

by deserting the Lord your God when he was leading you along the right path. ³ 

Jeremiah 11:13

11:13 This is in spite of the fact that ⁴  the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns ⁵  and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ ⁶ 

Jeremiah 40:2

40:2 The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

Jeremiah 42:3

42:3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

Jeremiah 2:19

2:19 Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment.

Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ⁷ 

Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ⁸ 

it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ⁹ 

to show no respect for me,” ¹⁰ 

says the Lord God who rules over all. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 3:13

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ¹² 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ¹³  that you have given yourself to ¹⁴  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

Jeremiah 42:2

42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request ¹⁵  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ¹⁶  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 42:5

42:5 They answered Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as ¹⁸  the Lord sends you to tell us to do.

¹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

² tn Heb “Are you not bringing this on yourself.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

³ tn Heb “at the time of leading you in the way.”

³ tn This is again an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) contextually. The nuance is a little hard to establish due to the nature of the rhetoric of the passage which utilizes the figure of apostrophe where the Lord turns from talking about Judah to addressing her directly, probably in condemnatory tones. Something like “the very idea that you should…” might best represent the mood. The כִּי is probably asseverative or intensive (cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e).

⁴ sn Cf. Jer 2:28.

⁵ tn Heb “For [or Indeed] the number of your [sing.] cities are your [sing.] gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [or perhaps (your) streets, Jerusalem] you [plur.] have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to sacrifice to Baal.” This passage involves a figure of speech where the speaker turns from describing something about someone to addressing him/her directly (a figure called apostrophe). This figure is not common in contemporary English literature or conversation and translating literally would lead to confusion on the part of some readers. Hence, the translation retains the third person in keeping with the rest of the context. The shift from singular “your cities” to plural “you have set up” is interpreted contextually to refer to a shift in addressing Judah to addressing the citizens of Jerusalem whose streets are being talked about. The appositional clause, “altars to sacrifice to Baal” has been collapsed with the preceding clause to better identify what the shameful thing is and to eliminate a complex construction. The length of this sentence runs contrary to the usual practice of breaking up long complex sentences in Hebrew into shorter equivalent ones in English. However, breaking up this sentence and possibly losing the connecting link with the preceding used to introduce it might lead to misunderstanding.

⁴ tn Or “teach you a lesson”; Heb “rebuke/chide you.”

⁵ tn Heb “how evil and bitter.” The reference is to the consequences of their acts. This is a figure of speech (hendiadys) where two nouns or adjectives joined by “and” introduce a main concept modified by the other noun or adjective.

⁶ tn Heb “to leave the Lord your God.” The change in person is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, which is common in Hebrew style but not in English, from third to first person between this line and the next.

⁷ tn Heb “and no fear of me was on you.”

⁸ tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh, [the God of] hosts.” For the title Lord God see the study note on 1:6. For the title “who rules over all” see the following study note. The title “the Lord who rules over all” is a way of rendering the title “Yahweh of armies.” It is an abbreviation of a longer title “Yahweh the God of armies” which occurs five times in Jeremiah (see, e.g., 44:7). The abbreviated title occurs seventy-seven times in the book of Jeremiah. On thirty-two occasions it is further qualified by the title “the God of Israel,” showing his special relation to Israel. On six occasions it is preceded by the title “Lord” (see, e.g., 46:10) and twice it is preceded by the title “the King” (see, e.g., 51:17). Both titles emphasize his sovereignty. Twice it is said that he is the maker of all things (10:16; 51:19), and once it is said that he made the earth and the people and animals on it and gives them into the control of whomever he wishes (27:4-5). On two occasions it is emphasized that he also made the heavenly elements and controls the natural elements of wind, rain, thunder, and hail (31:35; 51:14-16). All this is consistent with usage elsewhere where the “armies” over which he has charge are identified as (1) the angels which surround his throne (Isa 6:3, 5; 1 Kgs 22:19) and which he sends to protect his servants (2 Kgs 6:17), (2) the natural forces of thunder, rain, and hail (Isa 29:6; Josh 10:11; Judg 5:4, 5) through which he sends the enemy into panic and “gums” up their chariot wheels, (3) the armies of Israel (1 Sam 17:45) which he leads into battle (Num 10:34-35; Josh 5:14, 15) and for whom he fights as a mighty warrior (Exod 15:3; Isa 42:13; Ps 24:8), and even (4) the armies of the nations which he musters against his disobedient people (Isa 13:14). This title is most commonly found in the messenger formula “Thus says…” introducing both oracles of judgment (on Israel [e.g., 9:7, 15] and on the nations [e.g. 46:19; 50:18]; and see in general 25:29-32). It emphasizes his sovereignty as the king and creator, the lord of creation and of history, and the just judge who sees and knows all (11:20; 20:12) and judges each person and nation according to their actions (Jer 32:18-19). In the first instance (in the most dominant usage) this will involve the punishment of his own people through the agency of the Babylonians (cf., e.g., 25:8-9). But it will also include the punishment of all nations, including Babylon itself (cf. Jer 25:17-26, 32-38), and will ultimately result in the restoration of his people and a new relation with them (30:8; 31:35-37).

⁵ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

⁶ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

⁷ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.

⁶ tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.

⁷ tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”

⁸ tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.

⁷ tn Heb “do according to all the word which.”