31:17 Indeed, there is hope for your posterity. 1
Your children will return to their own territory.
I, the Lord, affirm it! 2
31:6 Yes, a time is coming
when watchmen 7 will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,
“Come! Let us go to Zion
to worship the Lord our God!”’” 8
31:16 The Lord says to her, 9
“Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears! 10
For your heartfelt repentance 11 will be rewarded.
Your children will return from the land of the enemy.
I, the Lord, affirm it! 12
5:1 The Lord said, 13
“Go up and down 14 through the streets of Jerusalem. 15
Look around and see for yourselves.
Search through its public squares.
See if any of you can find a single person
who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. 16
If you can, 17 then I will not punish this city. 18
14:22 Do any of the worthless idols 19 of the nations cause rain to fall?
Do the skies themselves send showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? 20
So we put our hopes in you 21
because you alone do all this.”
1 tn For this nuance for the Hebrew word אַחֲרִית (’akharit) see BDB 31 s.v. אַחֲרִית d and compare usage in Pss 37:38; 109:13. Others translate “your future” but the “future” lies with the return of her descendants, her posterity.
2 tn Heb “Oracle of the
3 sn See the parallel passage in Jer 14:13-15.
5 tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”
6 tn Heb “Then he said.”
7 sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)
7 sn Watchmen were stationed at vantage points to pass on warning of coming attack (Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:2, 6) or to spread the news of victory (Isa 52:8). Here reference is made to the watchmen who signaled the special times of the year such as the new moon and festival times when Israel was to go to Jerusalem to worship. Reference is not made to these in the Hebrew Bible but there is a good deal of instruction regarding them in the later Babylonian Talmud.
8 sn Not only will Israel and Judah be reunited under one ruler (cf. 23:5-6), but they will share a unified place and practice of worship once again in contrast to Israel using the illicit places of worship, illicit priesthood, and illicit feasts instituted by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:26-31) and continued until the downfall of Samaria in 722
9 tn The words “to her” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “Refrain your voice from crying and your eyes from tears.”
11 tn Heb “your work.” Contextually her “work” refers to her weeping and refusing to be comforted, that is, signs of genuine repentance (v. 15).
12 tn Heb “Oracle of the
11 tn These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the
12 tn It is not clear who is being addressed here. The verbs are plural so they are not addressed to Jeremiah per se. Since the passage is talking about the people of Jerusalem, it is unlikely they are addressed here except perhaps rhetorically. Some have suggested that the heavenly court is being addressed here as in Job 1:6-8; 2:1-3. It is clear from Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7 that the prophets had access to this heavenly counsel through visions (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19-23), so Jeremiah could have been privy to this speech through that means. Though these are the most likely addressee, it is too presumptuous to supply such an explicit addressee without clearer indication in the text. The translation will just have to run the risk of the probable erroneous assumption by most English readers that the addressee is Jeremiah.
13 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
14 tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”
15 tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”
16 tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”
13 tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.
14 tn Heb “Is it not you, O
15 tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.
15 tn The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the
16 tn Heb “the word of the
17 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
18 tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the
17 tn Heb “But there were ten men found among them and they said.” However, for the use of “were found” = “be, happened to be” see BDB 594 s.v. מָצָא 2.c and compare the usage in 41:3.
18 tn This sentence is a good example of the elliptical nature of some of the causal connections in the Hebrew Bible. All the Hebrew says literally is “For we have hidden stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey in a field.” However, it is obvious that they are using this as their bargaining chip to prevent Ishmael and his men from killing them. For the use of “for” (כִּי, ki) for such elliptical thoughts see BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c.
19 tn Or “So he refrained from killing them”; Heb “he refrained and did not kill them.”
20 tn Heb “in the midst of their brothers/fellow countrymen.”