Jeremiah 6:7

6:7 As a well continually pours out fresh water

so it continually pours out wicked deeds. ¹ 

Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. ² 

All I see are sick and wounded people.’ ³ 

Jeremiah 32:42

32:42 “For I, the Lord, say: ⁴  ‘I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 52:6

52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month ⁶  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ⁷  had no food.

¹ tc Heb “As a well makes cool/fresh its water, she makes cool/fresh her wickedness.” The translation follows the reading proposed by the Masoretes (Qere) which reads a rare form of the word “well” (בַּיִר [bayir] for בְּאֵר [bÿ’er]) in place of the form written in the text (Kethib, בּוֹר [bor]), which means “cistern.” The latter noun is masculine and the pronoun “its” is feminine. If indeed בַּיִר (bayir) is a byform of בְּאֵר (be’er), which is feminine, it would agree in gender with the pronoun. It also forms a more appropriate comparison since cisterns do not hold fresh water.

² tn Heb “Violence and destruction are heard in it.”

³ tn Heb “Sickness and wound are continually before my face.”

⁴ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord.” See the translator’s notes on 32:27, 36.

⁵ tn Heb “As I have brought all this great disaster on these people so I will bring upon them all the good fortune which I am promising them.” The translation has broken down the longer Hebrew sentence to better conform to English style.

⁷ sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

⁸ tn Heb “the people of the land.”