Jeremiah 4:1

4:1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me ¹ 

you must get those disgusting idols ²  out of my sight

and must no longer go astray. ³ 

Jeremiah 5:9

5:9 I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 13:17

13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ⁵ 

I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.

I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ⁶ 

because you, the Lord’s flock, ⁷  will be carried ⁸  into exile.”

Jeremiah 22:5

22:5 But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear ⁹  that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 38:18

38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians ¹¹  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ¹² 

Jeremiah 48:27

48:27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel?

Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, ¹³ 

that you shook your head in contempt ¹⁴ 

every time you talked about them? ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Or “If you, Israel, want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)]…then you must turn back to me.” Or perhaps, “Israel, you must turn back…Yes, you must turn back to me.”

² tn Heb “disgusting things.”

³ tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not need to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”

⁴ tn Heb “Should I not punish them…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions have the force of strong declarations.

⁷ tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.

⁸ tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”

⁹ tn Heb “because the Lord’s flock will…” The pronoun “you” is supplied in the translation to avoid the shift in English from the second person address at the beginning to the third person affirmation at the end. It also helps explain the metaphor of the people of Israel as God’s flock for some readers who may be unfamiliar with that metaphor.

¹⁰ tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

¹⁰ sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16; 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by no higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name.

¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹³ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

¹⁴ tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “were they caught among thieves?”

¹⁷ tn Heb “that you shook yourself.” But see the same verb in 18:16 in the active voice with the object “head” in a very similar context of contempt or derision.

¹⁸ tc The reading here presupposes the emendation of דְבָרֶיךָ (dÿvarekha, “your words”) to דַבֶּרְךָ (dabberkha, “your speaking”), suggested by BHS (cf. fn c) on the basis of one of the Greek versions (Symmachus). For the idiom cf. BDB 191 s.v. דַּי 2.c.α.