9:15 The nations fell 1 into the pit they had made;
their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. 2
55:23 But you, O God, will bring them 3 down to the deep Pit. 4
Violent and deceitful people 5 will not live even half a normal lifespan. 6
But as for me, I trust in you.
18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?
Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. 7
Just remember how I stood before you
pleading on their behalf 8
to keep you from venting your anger on them. 9
18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses
when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. 10
For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden traps for me to step into.
2:9 “So, once more I will state my case 13 against you,” says the Lord.
“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. 14
3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. 15
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! 16
You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.
3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?
You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ 17
That is what you say,
but you continually do all the evil that you can.” 18
3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. 19 You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. 20 3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. 21 But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. 22
11:18 The 30 nations 31 were enraged,
but 32 your wrath has come,
and the time has come for the dead to be judged,
and the time has come to give to your servants, 33
the prophets, their reward,
as well as to the saints
and to those who revere 34 your name, both small and great,
and the time has come 35 to destroy those who destroy 36 the earth.”
1 tn Heb “sank down.”
2 sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.
3 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
4 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
5 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
6 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
7 tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.
8 tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.
9 tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”
10 tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.
11 tn Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
12 tn Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”
13 tn Or “bring charges against you.”
14 tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.
15 tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”
16 tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.
17 tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.
18 tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”
19 tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
20 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
21 tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.
22 tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
23 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
24 tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.
25 tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.
26 tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).
27 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
28 tn Grk “until they had been completed.” The idea of a certain “number” of people is implied by the subject of πληρωθῶσιν (plhrwqwsin).
29 tn Though σύνδουλος (sundoulos) has been translated “fellow servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
30 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
31 tn Or “The Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
32 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
33 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
34 tn Grk “who fear.”
35 tn The words “the time has come” do not occur except at the beginning of the verse; the phrase has been repeated for emphasis and contrast. The Greek has one finite verb (“has come”) with a compound subject (“your wrath,” “the time”), followed by three infinitive clauses (“to be judged,” “to give,” “to destroy”). The rhetorical power of the repetition of the finite verb in English thus emulates the rhetorical power of its lone instance in Greek.
36 tn Or “who deprave.” There is a possible wordplay here on two meanings for διαφθείρω (diafqeirw), with the first meaning “destroy” and the second meaning either “to ruin” or “to make morally corrupt.” See L&N 20.40.