2:8 Your priests 1 did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ 2
Those responsible for teaching my law 3 did not really know me. 4
Your rulers rebelled against me.
Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. 5
They all worshiped idols that could not help them. 6
2:1 The Lord spoke to me. He said:
18:18 Then some people 7 said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! 8 There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. 9 Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! 10 Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”
18:19 Then I said, 11
“Lord, pay attention to me.
Listen to what my enemies are saying. 12
18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?
Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. 13
Just remember how I stood before you
pleading on their behalf 14
to keep you from venting your anger on them. 15
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 16
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 17
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 18
18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 19
1 tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”
2 sn See the study note on 2:6.
3 tn Heb “those who handle my law.”
4 tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.
5 tn Heb “by Baal.”
6 tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (ya’al).
7 tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.
8 tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.
9 tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”
10 tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.
11 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples’ plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.
12 tn Heb “the voice of my adversaries.”
13 tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.
14 tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.
15 tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”
16 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
17 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
18 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
19 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the