Jeremiah 25:4-8

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  25:5 He said through them, ⁴  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ⁵  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ⁶  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ⁷  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ⁸  Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says, ⁹  ‘You have not listened to me. But ¹⁰  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ¹¹  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

25:8 “Therefore, the Lord who rules over all ¹²  says, ‘You have not listened to what I said. ¹³ 

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 Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

⁵ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

⁶ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

⁷ tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

⁸ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁰ tn This is a rather clear case where the Hebrew particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a consequence and not a purpose, contrary to the dictum of BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. They have not listened to him in order to make him angry but with the result that they have made him angry by going their own way. Jeremiah appears to use this particle for result rather than purpose on several other occasions (see, e.g., 7:18, 19; 27:10, 15; 32:29).

¹¹ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

¹² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

¹³ tn Heb “You have not listened to my words.”