Jeremiah 7:22-23

7:22 Consider this: ¹  When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: ²  “Obey me. If you do, I ³  will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you ⁴  and things will go well with you.”

Jeremiah 26:4-6

26:4 Tell them that the Lord says, ⁵  ‘You must obey me! You must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws. ⁶  26:5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. ⁷  But you have not paid any attention to them. 26:6 If you do not obey me, ⁸  then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. ⁹  And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”

¹ tn Heb “For” but this introduces a long explanation about the relative importance of sacrifice and obedience.

² tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.

³ tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.

⁴ tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”

⁵ tn Heb “thus says the Lord, ‘…’.” The use of the indirect quotation in the translation eliminates one level of embedded quotation to avoid confusion.

⁶ tn Heb “by walking in my law which I set before you.”

⁷ tn See the translator’s note on 7:13 for the idiom here.

⁸ tn 26:4-6 are all one long sentence containing a long condition with subordinate clauses (vv. 4-5) and a compound consequence in v. 6: Heb “If you will not obey me by walking in my law…by paying attention to the words of the prophets which…and you did not pay heed, then I will make…and I will make…” The sentence has been broken down in conformity to contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to reflect all the subordinations in the English translation.

⁹ sn See the study note on Jer 7:13.