23:23 Do you people think 1 that I am some local deity
and not the transcendent God?” 2 the Lord asks. 3
12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. 4
They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. 5
They always talk about you,
but they really care nothing about you. 6
31:3 In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them.
He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.
That is why I have continued to be faithful to you. 7
51:50 You who have escaped the sword, 8
go, do not delay. 9
Remember the Lord in a faraway land.
Think about Jerusalem. 10
30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servants. 13
Do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from a faraway land where you are captives. 14
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them. 15
46:27 16 “You descendants of Jacob, my servants, 17 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. 18
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them.
1 tn The words “Do you people think” at the beginning of this verse and “Do you really think” at the beginning of the next verse are not in the text but are a way of trying to convey the nature of the rhetorical questions which expect a negative answer. They are also a way of trying to show that the verses are still connected with the preceding discussion addressed to the people (cf. 23:16, 20).
2 tn Heb “Am I a god nearby and not a god far off?” The question is sometimes translated as though there is an alternative being given in v. 23, one that covers both the ideas of immanence and transcendence (i.e., “Am I only a god nearby and not also a god far off?”). However, the hey interrogative (הַ) at the beginning of this verse and the particle (אִם, ’im) at the beginning of the next show that the linkage is between the question in v. 23 and that in v. 24a. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.d both questions in this case expect a negative answer.
3 tn Heb “Oracle of the
4 tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”
5 tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.
6 tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”
7 tn Or “The people of Israel who survived the onslaughts of Egypt and Amalek found favor in the wilderness as they journeyed to find rest. At that time long ago the
10 sn God’s exiled people are told to leave doomed Babylon (see v. 45).
11 tn Heb “don’t stand.”
12 tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.
13 tn The words “have drunk the wine of the
14 tn Heb “the king of Sheshach.” “Sheshach” is a code name for Babylon formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. On this principle Hebrew שׁ (shin) is substituted for Hebrew ב (bet) and Hebrew כ (kaf) is substituted for Hebrew ל (lamed). On the same principle “Leb Kamai” in Jer 51:1 is a code name for Chasdim or Chaldeans which is Jeremiah’s term for the Babylonians. No explanation is given for why the code names are used. The name “Sheshach” for Babylon also occurs in Jer 51:41 where the term Babylon is found in parallelism with it.
16 tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the
17 tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”
18 sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.
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.”