Jeremiah 35:18

35:18 Then Jeremiah spoke to the Rechabite community, “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘You have obeyed the orders of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all his instructions. You have done exactly as he commanded you.’

Jeremiah 35:14

35:14 Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. ²  To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I ³  have spoken to you over and over again, ⁴  but you have not obeyed me!

¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For this title, which occurs again in the following verse, see the notes on 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.

² tn Heb “The words of Jonadab son of Rechab which he commanded his descendants not to drink wine have been carried out.” (For the construction of the accusative of subject after a passive verb illustrated here see GKC 388 §121.b.) The sentence has been broken down and made more direct to better conform to contemporary English style.

³ tn The vav (ו) plus the independent pronoun before the verb is intended to mark a sharp contrast. It is difficult, if not impossible to mark this in English other than “But I.”

⁴ tn On this idiom (which occurs again in the following verse) see the translator’s note on 7:13 for this idiom and compare its use in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14, 15; 44:9.