Jeremiah 22:11

22:11 “‘For the Lord has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, “He will never return to this land. ¹ 

Jeremiah 22:2

22:2 Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. ²  You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says. ³ 

Jeremiah 23:30-34

23:30 So I, the Lord, affirm ⁴  that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. ⁵  23:31 I, the Lord, affirm ⁶  that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’ ⁷  23:32 I, the Lord, affirm ⁸  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. ⁹  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. ¹⁰  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹¹ 

23:33 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, ¹²  when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message ¹³  do you have from the Lord?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden, ¹⁴  and I will cast you away. ¹⁵  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁶  23:34 I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” ¹⁷  I will punish both that person and his whole family.’” ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 19:3-4

19:3 She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion.

He learned to tear prey; he devoured people. ¹⁹ 

19:4 The nations heard about him; he was trapped in their pit.

They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. ²⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “For thus said the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of his father who went away from this place: He will not return there again.”

² tn Heb “who sits on David’s throne.”

³ tn Heb “Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah who sits on the throne of David, you, and your officials and your people who pass through these gates.”

⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁵ tn Heb “who are stealing my words from one another.” However, context shows that it is their own word which they claim is from the Lord (cf. next verse).

⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁷ tn The word “The Lord” is not actually in the text but is implicit in the idiom. It is generally supplied in all the English versions.

⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “with their lies and their recklessness.” This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns (in this case a concrete and an abstract one) are joined by “and” but one is intended to be the adjectival modifier of the other.

¹⁰ sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.

¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹² tn The words “The Lord said to me, ‘Jeremiah” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift between the Lord addressing the people (second masculine plural) and the Lord addressing Jeremiah (second masculine singular).

¹³ tn The meaning of vv. 33-40 is debated. The translation given here follows the general direction of NRSV and REB rather than that of NIV and the related direction taken by NCV and God’s Word. The meaning of vv. 33-40 are debated because of (1) the ambiguity involved in the word מָשָּׂא (masa’), which can mean either “burden” (as something carried or weighing heavily on a person; see, e.g., Exod 23:5; Num 4:27; 2 Sam 15:33; Ps 38:4) or “oracle” (of doom; see, e. g., Isa 13:1; Nah 1:1); (the translation is debated due to etymological concerns), (2) the ambiguity of the line in v. 36 which has been rendered “For what is ‘burdensome’ really pertains rather to what a person himself says” (Heb “the burden is to the man his word”), and (3) the text in v. 33 of “you are the burden.” Many commentaries see a wordplay on the two words “burden” and “oracle” which are homonyms. However, from the contrasts that are drawn in the passage, it is doubtful whether the nuance of “oracle” ever is in view. The word is always used in the prophets of an oracle of doom or judgment; it is not merely revelation of God which one of the common people would have been uttering (contra NIV). Jeremiah never uses the word in that sense nor does anyone else in the book of Jeremiah.

¹⁴ tc The translation follows the Latin and Greek versions. The Hebrew text reads “What burden [i.e., burdensome message]?” The syntax of “what message?” is not in itself objectionable; the interrogative can function as an adjective (cf. BDB 552 s.v. מָה 1.a[a]). What is objectionable to virtually all the commentaries and lexicons is the unparalleled use of the accusative particle in front of the interrogative and the noun (see, e.g., BDB 672 s.v. III מָשָּׂא and GKC 365-66 §117.m, n. 3). The emendation only involves the redivision and revocalization of the same consonants: אֶת־מַה־מַשָּׂא (’et-mah-masa’) becomes אַתֶּם הַמָּשָּׂא (’atem hammasa’). This also makes a much more natural connection for the vav consecutive perfect that follows (cf. GKC 334 §112.x and compare Isa 6:7; Judg 13:3).

¹⁵ tn The meaning “cast you away” is questioned by some because the word is regularly used of “forsaking” or “abandoning” (see, e.g., Jer 7:29; 12:7; 15:6). However, it is clearly use of “casting down” or “throwing away” in Ezek 29:5; 32:4 and that meaning is virtually assured in v. 39 where the verb is combined with the phrase “from my presence” which is elsewhere used in rejection contexts with verbs like “send away,” “throw out,” or “remove” (see BDB 819 s.v. פָּנֶה II.8.a). This is another example of the bracketing effect of a key word and should be rendered the same in the two passages. Moreover, it fits in nicely with the play on “burden” here.

¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “burden of the Lord.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “And the prophet or the priest or the people [common person] who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,” I will visit upon [= punish] that man and his house.” This is an example of the Hebrew construction call nominative absolute or casus pendens (cf. GKC 458 §143.d).

¹⁹ tn Heb “a man.”

²⁰ sn The description applies to king Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:31-34; Jer 22:10-12).