Jeremiah 8:2

8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹  These are things they ²  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ³  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ⁴  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 14:10

14:10 Then the Lord spoke about these people. ⁶ 

“They truly ⁷  love to go astray.

They cannot keep from running away from me. ⁸ 

So I am not pleased with them.

I will now call to mind ⁹  the wrongs they have done ¹⁰ 

and punish them for their sins.”

Jeremiah 20:4

20:4 For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ¹¹  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ¹²  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

Jeremiah 20:6

20:6 You, Pashhur, and all your household ¹³  will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’” ¹⁴ 

¹ tc MT, 4QJer^a and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJer^c reads “the sun and all the stars.”

² tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”

³ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

⁴ tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.

⁵ tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”

⁶ tn Heb “Thus said the Lord concerning this people.”

⁷ tn It is difficult to be certain how the particle כֵּן (ken, usually used for “thus, so”) is to be rendered here. BDB 485 s.v. כֵּן 1.b says that the force sometimes has to be elicited from the general context and points back to the line of v. 9. IHBS 666 §39.3.4e states that when there is no specific comparative clause preceding a general comparison is intended. They point to Judg 5:31 as a parallel. Ps 127:2 may also be an example if כִּי (ki) is not to be read (cf. BHS fn). “Truly” seemed the best way to render this idea in contemporary English.

⁸ tn Heb “They do not restrain their feet.” The idea of “away from me” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “remember.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “their iniquities.”

¹¹ tn Heb “I will make you an object of terror to both you and your friends.”

¹² tn Heb “And they will fall by the sword of their enemies and [with] your eyes seeing [it].”

¹⁶ tn Heb “all who live in your house.” This included his family and his servants.

¹⁷ sn As a member of the priesthood and the protector of order in the temple, Pashhur was undoubtedly one of those who promulgated the deceptive belief that the Lord’s presence in the temple was a guarantee of Judah’s safety (cf. 7:4, 8). Judging from the fact that two other men held the same office after the leading men in the city were carried into exile in 597 b.c. (see Jer 29:25-26 and compare 29:1-2 for the date and 2 Kgs 24:12-16 for the facts), this prophecy was probably fulfilled in 597. For a similar kind of oracle of judgment see Amos 7:10-17.