“‘He will do what is just and right in the land.
48:47 Yet in days to come
I will reverse Moab’s ill fortune.” 2
says the Lord. 3
The judgment against Moab ends here.
5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. 4
They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. 5
They do not know what their God requires of them. 6
8:7 Even the stork knows
when it is time to move on. 9
The turtledove, swallow, and crane 10
recognize 11 the normal times for their migration.
But my people pay no attention
to 12 what I, the Lord, require of them. 13
22:13 “‘Sure to be judged 14 is the king who builds his palace using injustice
and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. 15
He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.
22:15 Does it make you any more of a king
that you outstrip everyone else in 16 building with cedar?
Just think about your father.
He was content that he had food and drink. 17
He did what was just and right. 18
So things went well with him.
23:5 “I, the Lord, promise 19 that a new time will certainly come 20
when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, 21 a descendant of David.
He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding 22
and will do what is just and right in the land. 23
5:1 The Lord said, 24
“Go up and down 25 through the streets of Jerusalem. 26
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. 27
If you can, 28 then I will not punish this city. 29
5:5 I will go to the leaders 30
and speak with them.
Surely they know what the Lord demands. 31
Surely they know what their God requires of them.” 32
Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority
and refuse to submit to him. 33
9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,” 34
says the Lord.
21:12 O royal family descended from David. 35
The Lord says:
‘See to it that people each day 36 are judged fairly. 37
Deliver those who have been robbed from those 38 who oppress them.
Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.
It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out
because of the evil that you have done. 39
26:16 Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said, 46 “This man should not be condemned to die. 47 For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.” 48
1 tn Heb “sprig” or “shoot.”
2 tn See 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.
3 tn Heb “Oracle of the
3 tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.
4 tn Heb “the way of the
5 tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”
4 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
5 tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
5 tn Heb “its appointed time.” The translation is contextually motivated to avoid lack of clarity.
6 tn There is debate in the commentaries and lexicons about the identification of some of these birds, particularly regarding the identification of the “swallow” which is more likely the “swift” and the “crane” which some identify with the “thrush.” For a discussion see the Bible encyclopedias and the UBS handbook Fauna and Flora of the Bible. The identity of the individual birds makes little difference to the point being made and “swallow” is more easily identifiable to the average reader than the “swift.”
7 tn Heb “keep.” Ironically birds, which do not think, obey the laws of nature, but Israel does not obey the laws of God.
8 tn Heb “do not know.” But here as elsewhere the word “know” is more than an intellectual matter. It is intended here to summarize both “know” and “follow” (Heb “observe”) in the preceding lines.
9 tn Heb “the ordinance/requirement of the
6 sn Heb “Woe.” This particle is used in laments for the dead (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 34:5) and as an introductory particle in indictments against a person on whom judgment is pronounced (cf., e.g., Isa 5:8, 11; Jer 23:1). The indictment is found here in vv. 13-17 and the announcement of judgment in vv. 18-19.
7 tn Heb “Woe to the one who builds his house by unrighteousness and its upper rooms with injustice using his neighbor [= countryman] as a slave for nothing and not giving to him his wages.”
7 tn For the use of this verb see Jer 12:5 where it is used of Jeremiah “competing” with horses. The form is a rare Tiphel (see GKC 153 §55.h).
8 tn Heb “Your father, did he not eat and drink and do justice and right.” The copulative vav in front of the verbs here (all Hebrew perfects) shows that these actions are all coordinate not sequential. The contrast drawn here between the actions of Jehoiakim and Josiah show that the phrase eating and drinking should be read in the light of the same contrasts in Eccl 2 which ends with the note of contentment in Eccl 2:24 (see also Eccl 3:13; 5:18 [5:17 HT]; 8:15). The question is, of course, rhetorical setting forth the positive role model against which Jehoiakim’s actions are to be condemned. The key terms here are “then things went well with him” which is repeated in the next verse after the reiteration of Josiah’s practice of justice.
9 sn The father referred to here is the godly king Josiah. He followed the requirements for kings set forth in 22:3 in contrast to his son who did not (22:13).
8 tn Heb “Oracle of the
9 tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”
10 tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).
11 tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).
12 sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).
9 tn These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the
10 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.
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”
13 tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”
14 tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”
10 tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”
11 tn Heb “the way of the
12 tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”
13 tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.
11 tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the
12 tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.
13 tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.
14 sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.
15 tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”
16 tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”
13 tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”
14 tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.
15 tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”
14 tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”
15 tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”
16 tn Heb “it.”
15 tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”
16 sn Contrast v. 11.
17 tn Heb “For in the name of the
16 tn Heb “your right.” The term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here and in v. 8 refers to legal entitlement for the option to purchase a property (BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 5; cf. Deut 21:17).
17 sn Underlying this request are the laws of redemption of property spelled out in Lev 25:25-34 and illustrated in Ruth 4:3-4. Under these laws, if a property owner became impoverished and had to sell his land, the nearest male relative had the right and duty to buy it so that it would not pass out of the use of the extended family. The land, however, would not actually belong to Jeremiah because in the year of Jubilee it reverted to its original owner. All Jeremiah was actually buying was the right to use it (Lev 25:13-17). Buying the field, thus, did not make any sense (thus Jeremiah’s complaint in v. 25) other than the fact that the
17 tn Heb “And according to the word of the