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 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, ⁶ 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ⁷ 

Let us at least die there fighting, ⁸ 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁹ 

because we have sinned against him. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 16:5

16:5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹¹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ¹²  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ¹³ 

Jeremiah 25:33

25:33 Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time

will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.

They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ¹⁴ 

Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

Jeremiah 40:10

40:10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians ¹⁵  whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, ¹⁶  and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 40:12

40:12 So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹⁸ 

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 The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

⁸ tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

⁹ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

¹⁰ tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

¹¹ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord…”

¹² tn Heb “my peace.” The Hebrew word שְׁלוֹמִי (shÿlomi) can be translated “peace, prosperity” or “well-being” (referring to wholeness or health of body and soul).

¹³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁶ sn The intent here is to emphasize the large quantity of those who are killed – there will be too many to insure proper mourning rites and proper burial.

²¹ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

²² tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

²³ tn This plus “Things will go well with you” is in essence the substance of the oath. The pronouns are emphatic, “And I, behold I will stay…and you, you may gather.” The imperatives in the second half of the verse are more a form of permission than of command or advice (cf. NJPS, REB, TEV and compare the usage in 40:4 and the references in the translator’s note there).

²⁶ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.