Jeremiah 22:5

22:5 But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear ¹  that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ² 

Jeremiah 49:13

49:13 For I solemnly swear,” ³  says the Lord, “that Bozrah ⁴  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ⁵  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

¹ sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16; 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by no higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name.

² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

³ tn Heb “I swear by myself.” See 22:5 and the study note there.

⁴ sn Bozrah appears to have been the chief city in Edom, its capital city (see its parallelism with Edom in Isa 34:6; 63:1; Jer 49:22). The reference to “its towns” (translated here “all the towns around it”) could then be a reference to all the towns in Edom. It was located about twenty-five miles southeast of the southern end of the Dead Sea apparently in the district of Teman (see the parallelism in Amos 1:12).

⁵ tn See the study note on 24:9 for the rendering of this term.