8:19 I hear my dear people 1 crying out 2
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 3
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King 4 no longer there?’”
The Lord answers, 5
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?” 6
9:1 (8:23) 7 I wish that my head were a well full of water 8
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people 9 who have been killed.
9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, 10
“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction 11 and test them.
The wickedness of my dear people 12 has left me no choice.
What else can I do? 13
14:17 “Tell these people this, Jeremiah: 14
‘My eyes overflow with tears
day and night without ceasing. 15
For my people, my dear children, 16 have suffered a crushing blow.
They have suffered a serious wound. 17
22:4 So I say:
“Don’t look at me! 18
I am weeping bitterly.
Don’t try 19 to console me
concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” 20
כ (Kaf)
2:11 My eyes are worn out 21 from weeping; 22
my stomach is in knots. 23
My heart 24 is poured out on the ground
due to the destruction 25 of my helpless people; 26
children and infants faint
in the town squares.
3:48 Streams 27 of tears flow from my eyes 28
because my people 29 are destroyed. 30
ג (Gimel)
4:3 Even the jackals 31 nurse their young
at their breast, 32
but my people 33 are cruel,
like ostriches 34 in the desert.
ו (Vav)
4:6 The punishment 35 of my people 36
exceeded that of 37 of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
with no one to help her. 38
י (Yod)
4:10 The hands of tenderhearted women 39
cooked their own children,
who became their food, 40
when my people 41 were destroyed. 42
1 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
2 tn Heb “Behold the voice of the crying of the daughter of my people.”
3 tn Heb “Land of distances, i.e., of wide extent.” For parallel usage cf. Isa 33:17.
4 tn Heb “her King” but this might be misunderstood by some to refer to the Davidic ruler even with the capitalization.
5 tn The words, “The
6 sn The people’s cry and the
7 sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
8 tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”
9 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
11 tn Heb “I will refine/purify them.” The words “in the fires of affliction” are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor.
12 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
13 tc Heb “For how else shall I deal because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.” The MT does not have the word “wickedness.” The word, however, is read in the Greek version. This is probably a case of a word dropping out because of its similarities to the consonants preceding or following it (i.e., haplography). The word “wickedness” (רַעַת, ra’at) has dropped out before the words “my dear people” (בַּת־עַמִּי, bat-’ammi). The causal nuance which is normal for מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne) does not make sense without some word like this, and the combination of רַעַת מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne ra’at) does occur in Jer 7:12 and one very like it occurs in Jer 26:3.
14 tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but the address is to a second person singular and is a continuation of 14:14 where the quote starts. The word is supplied in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Many of the English versions and commentaries render this an indirect or third person imperative, “Let my eyes overflow…” because of the particle אַל (’al) which introduces the phrase translated “without ceasing” (אַל־תִּדְמֶינָה, ’al-tidmenah). However, this is undoubtedly an example where the particle introduces an affirmation that something cannot be done (cf. GKC 322 §109.e). Clear examples of this are found in Pss 41:2 (41:3 HT); 50:3; Job 40:32 (41:8). God here is describing again a lamentable situation and giving his response to it. See 14:1-6 above.
16 tn Heb “virgin daughter, my people.” The last noun here is appositional to the first two (genitive of apposition). Hence it is not ‘literally’ “virgin daughter of my people.”
17 tn This is a poetic personification. To translate with the plural “serious wounds” might mislead some into thinking of literal wounds.
18 tn Heb “look away from me” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
19 tn Heb “don’t hurry” (so NCV).
20 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” “Daughter” is here used metaphorically to express the speaker’s emotional attachment to his people, as well as their vulnerability and weakness.
21 tn Heb “my eyes are spent” or “my eyes fail.” The verb כָּלָה (kalah) is used of eyes exhausted by weeping (Job 11:20; 17:5; Ps 69:4; Jer 14:6; 4:17), and means either “to be spent” (BDB 477 s.v. 2.b) or “to fail” (HALOT 477 s.v. 6). It means to have used up all one’s tears or to have worn out the eyes because of so much crying. It is rendered variously: “my eyes fail” (KJV, NIV), “my eyes are spent” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, NJPS), “my eyes are worn out” (TEV), and “my eyes are red” (CEV).
22 tn Heb “because of tears.” The plural noun דִּמְעוֹת (dim’ot, “tears”) is an example of the plural of intensity or repeated behavior: “many tears.” The more common singular form דִּמְעָה (dim’ah) normally functions in a collective sense (“tears”); therefore, the plural form here does not indicate simple plural of number.
23 tn Heb “my bowels burn” or “my bowels are in a ferment.” The verb חֳמַרְמְרוּ (khomarmÿru) is an unusual form and derived from a debated root: Poalal perfect 3rd person common plural from III חָמַר (khamar, “to be red,” HALOT 330 s.v. III חמר) or Pe`al`al perfect 3rd person common plural from I חָמַר (khamar, “to ferment, boil up,” BDB 330 s.v. I חָמַר). The Poalal stem of this verb occurs only three times in OT: with פָּנִים (panim, “face,” Job 16:16) and מֵעִים (me’im, “bowels,” Lam 1:20; 2:11). The phrase חֳמַרְמְרוּ מֵעַיּ (khomarmÿru me’ay) means “my bowels burned” (HALOT 330 s.v.) or “my bowels are in a ferment,” as a euphemism for lower-intestinal bowel problems (BDB 330 s.v.). This phrase also occurs in later rabbinic literature (m. Sanhedrin 7:2). The present translation, “my stomach is in knots,” is not a literal equivalent to this Hebrew idiom; however, it is an attempt to approximate the equivalent English idiom.
24 tn Heb “my liver,” viewed as the seat of the emotions.
25 tn Heb “on account of the breaking.”
26 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.” Rather than a genitive of relationship (“daughter of X”), the phrase בַּת־עַמִּי (bat-’ammi) is probably a genitive of apposition. The idiom “Daughter X” occurs often in Lamentations: “Daughter Jerusalem” (2x), “Daughter Zion” (7x), “Virgin Daughter Zion” (1x), “Daughter of My People” (5x), “Daughter Judah” (2x), and “Virgin Daughter Judah” (1x). In each case, it is a poetic description of Jerusalem or Judah as a whole. The idiom בַּת־עַמִּי (bat-’ammi, lit., “daughter of my people” is rendered variously by the English versions: “the daughter of my people” (KJV, RSV, NASB), “my people” (NIV, TEV, CEV), and “my poor people” (NJPS). The metaphor here pictures the people as vulnerable and weak.
27 tn Heb “canals.” The phrase “canals of water” (eye water = tears) is an example of hyperbole. The English idiom “streams of tears” is also hyperbolic.
28 tn Heb “my eyes flow down with canals of water.”
29 tn Heb “the daughter of my people,” or “the Daughter, my people.”
30 tn Heb “because of the destruction of [the daughter of my people].”
31 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
32 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
33 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
34 tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew
35 tn The noun עֲוֹן (’avon) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin” and (2) metonymical cause for effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”
36 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
37 tn Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khatta’t) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.
38 tn Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivor’s.
39 tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”
40 tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5,6,10) for eating when ill or in mourning.
41 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
42 tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”