Jeremiah 5:12-13

5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. ¹ 

They have said, ‘That is not so! ² 

No harm will come to us.

We will not experience war and famine. ³ 

5:13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind. ⁴ 

The Lord has not spoken through them. ⁵ 

So, let what they say happen to them.’”

Jeremiah 43:2

43:2 Then Azariah ⁶  son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, ‘You must not go to Egypt and settle there.’

Jeremiah 44:17

44:17 Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ⁷  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ⁸  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “have denied the Lord.” The words “What…says” are implicit in what follows.

² tn Or “he will do nothing”; Heb “Not he [or it]!”

³ tn Heb “we will not see the sword and famine.”

⁴ tn Heb “will be wind.”

⁵ tc Heb “the word is not in them.” The MT has a highly unusual form here, the Piel perfect with the definite article (הַדִּבֵּר, haddibber). It is undoubtedly best to read with the LXX (Greek version) and one Hebrew ms the article on the noun (הַדָּבָר, haddavar).

⁶ sn See the study note on 42:1 for the possible identification of this man with Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite.

⁷ tn Heb “that went out of our mouth.” I.e., everything we said, promised, or vowed.

⁸ tn Heb “sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” The expressions have been combined to simplify and shorten the sentence. The same combination also occurs in vv. 18, 19.

⁹ tn Heb “saw [or experienced] no disaster/trouble/harm.”