5:7 The Lord asked, 1
“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? 2
Your people 3 have rejected me
and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. 4
Even though I supplied all their needs, 5 they were like an unfaithful wife to me. 6
They went flocking 7 to the houses of prostitutes. 8
9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. 13
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation 14 of people that has been disloyal to him. 15
4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? 21 So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.
1 tn These words are not in the text, but are supplied in the translation to make clear who is speaking.
2 tn Heb “How can I forgive [or pardon] you.” The pronoun “you” is second feminine singular, referring to the city. See v. 1.
3 tn Heb “your children.”
4 tn Heb “and they have sworn [oaths] by not-gods.”
5 tn Heb “I satisfied them to the full.”
6 tn Heb “they committed adultery.” It is difficult to decide whether literal adultery with other women or spiritual adultery with other gods is meant. The word for adultery is used for both in the book of Jeremiah. For examples of its use for spiritual adultery see 3:8, 9; 9:2. For examples of its use for literal adultery see 7:9; 23:14. The context here could argue for either. The swearing by other gods and the implicit contradiction in their actions in contrast to the expected gratitude for supplying their needs argues for spiritual adultery. However, the reference to prostitution in the next line and the reference to chasing after their neighbor’s wives argues for literal adultery. The translation opts for spiritual adultery because of the contrast implicit in the concessive clause.
7 tn There is a great deal of debate about the meaning of this word. Most of the modern English versions follow the lead of lexicographers who relate this word to a noun meaning “troop” and understand it to mean “they trooped together” (cf. BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד Hithpo.2 and compare the usage in Mic 5:1 [4:14 HT]). A few of the modern English versions and commentaries follow the reading of the Greek and read a word meaning “they lodged” (reading ִיתְגּוֹרְרוּ [yitggorÿru] from I גּוּר [gur; cf. HALOT 177 s.v. Hithpo. and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 17:20] instead of יִתְגֹּדָדוּ [yitggodadu]). W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:180) sees a reference here to the cultic practice of cutting oneself in supplication to pagan gods (cf. BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד Hithpo.1 and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 18:28). The houses of prostitutes would then be a reference to ritual prostitutes at the pagan shrines. The translation follows BDB and the majority of modern English versions.
8 tn Heb “to a house of a prostitute.”
9 tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.
10 tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.
11 tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.
12 tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”
13 tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”
14 tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.
15 tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.
16 tn Heb “a man.”
17 tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.
18 sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.
19 tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
21 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”