Jeremiah 25:4

25:4 Over and over again ¹  the Lord has sent ²  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ³ 

Jeremiah 26:5

26:5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. ⁴  But you have not paid any attention to them.

Jeremiah 27:14

27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve ⁵  the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

Jeremiah 44:4

44:4 I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over ⁶  again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. ⁷ 

¹ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

² tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

³ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

⁴ tn See the translator’s note on 7:13 for the idiom here.

⁷ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.

¹⁰ tn See 7:13 for an explanation of this idiom and compare 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15 for similar references to the persistent warnings of the prophets.

¹¹ tn Heb “sent…over again, saying, ‘Do not do this terrible thing that I hate.’” The indirect quote has been used to shorten the sentence and eliminate one level of embedded quotes.