Jeremiah 1:10

1:10 Know for certain that ¹  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ²  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ³ 

Jeremiah 11:17

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ⁴  planted you in the land, ⁵ 

I now decree that disaster will come on you ⁶ 

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 30:18

The Lord Will Restore Israel and Judah

30:18 The Lord says,

“I will restore the ruined houses of the descendants of Jacob.

I will show compassion on their ruined homes. ⁸ 

Every city will be rebuilt on its former ruins. ⁹ 

Every fortified dwelling will occupy its traditional site. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 31:4

31:4 I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, ¹¹ 

so that you will once again be built up.

Once again you will take up the tambourine

and join in the happy throng of dancers. ¹² 

Jeremiah 31:28

31:28 In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. ¹³  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 31:38

Jerusalem Will Be Enlarged

31:38 “Indeed a time is coming,” ¹⁵  says the Lord, ¹⁶  “when the city of Jerusalem ¹⁷  will be rebuilt as my special city. ¹⁸  It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 32:41

32:41 I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them ²⁰  firmly in the land.’

Ecclesiastes 3:2

3:2 A time to be born, ²¹  and a time to die; ²² 

a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;

Amos 9:11-15

The Restoration of the Davidic Dynasty

9:11 “In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut ²³  of David.

I will seal its ²⁴  gaps,

repair its ²⁵  ruins,

and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. ²⁶ 

9:12 As a result they ²⁷  will conquer those left in Edom ²⁸ 

and all the nations subject to my rule.” ²⁹ 

The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

9:13 “Be sure of this, ³⁰  the time is ³¹  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³² 

and the one who stomps the grapes ³³  will overtake ³⁴  the planter. ³⁵ 

Juice will run down the slopes, ³⁶ 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ³⁷ 

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ³⁸ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ³⁹  and settle down. ⁴⁰ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴¹ 

they will grow orchards ⁴²  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁴³ 

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ⁴⁴  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

[1:10]  ³ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.

[11:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:17]  ⁵ tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term Lord of armies has been rendered this sentence has been restructured to avoid confusion in English style.

[11:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[30:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and will have compassion on his habitations.” For the meaning of the idiom “restore the fortunes of” see the translator’s note on 29:14. The “tents of Jacob” refers to their homes or houses (see BDB 14 s.v. אֹהֶל 2 and compare usage in Judg 19:9; Mal 2:12). The word “ruined” has been supplied in the translation to show more clearly the idea of restoration of their houses on their former sites in conformity to the concepts in the latter half of the verse.

[30:18]  ⁹ sn Heb “on its tel.” A tel is a site where successive layers of occupation are built upon one another after the destruction or decay of the former city. The original site was not abandoned because it had been chosen for strategic purposes, such as proximity to water or ease of defense. Many modern archaeological sites have the designation “Tel” as a component of their name because of this practice.

[30:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to its custom [or plan].” Cf. BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6.d and compare usage in 1 Sam 27:11.

[31:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Virgin Israel.”

[31:4]  ¹² sn Contrast Jer 7:34 and 25:10.

[31:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and demolish, so I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The words here repeat those of 1:10 and 1:12.

[31:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:38]  ¹⁵ tc The words “is coming” (בָּאִים, ba’im) are not in the written text (Kethib) but are supplied in the margin (Qere), in several Hebrew mss and in the versions. It is part of the idiom that also occurs in vv. 27, 31.

[31:38]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:38]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[31:38]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the city will be built to [or for] the Lord.” The words “of Jerusalem” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity. However, the word occurs in a first person speech so the translation has accommodated the switch in person as it has in a number of other places (compare also NIV, TEV, ICV).

[31:38]  ¹⁹ tn The word “westward” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to give some orientation.

[32:41]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will plant them in the land with faithfulness with all my heart and with all my soul.” The latter expressions are, of course, anthropomorphisms (see Deut 6:5).

[3:2]  ²¹ tn The verb יָלָד (yalad, “to bear”) is used in the active sense of a mother giving birth to a child (HALOT 413 s.v. ילד; BDB 408 s.v. יָלָד). However, in light of its parallelism with “a time to die,” it should be taken as a metonymy of cause (i.e., to give birth to a child) for effect (i.e., to be born).

[3:2]  ²² sn In 3:2-8, Qoheleth uses fourteen sets of merisms (a figure using polar opposites to encompass everything in between, that is, totality), e.g., Deut 6:6-9; Ps 139:2-3 (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 435).

[9:11]  ²³ tn The phrase translated “collapsing hut” refers to a temporary shelter (cf. NASB, NRSV “booth”) in disrepair and emphasizes the relatively weakened condition of the once powerful Davidic dynasty. Others have suggested that the term refers to Jerusalem, while still others argue that it should be repointed to read “Sukkoth,” a garrison town in Transjordan. Its reconstruction would symbolize the rebirth of the Davidic empire and its return to power (e.g., M. E. Polley, Amos and the Davidic Empire, 71-74).

[9:11]  ²⁴ tc The MT reads a third feminine plural suffix, which could refer to the two kingdoms (Judah and Israel) or, more literally, to the breaches in the walls of the cities that are mentioned in v. 4 (cf. 4:3). Some emend to third feminine singular, since the “hut” of the preceding line (a feminine singular noun) might be the antecedent. In that case, the final nun (ן) is virtually dittographic with the vav (ו) that appears at the beginning of the following word.

[9:11]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads a third masculine singular suffix, which could refer back to David. However, it is possible that an original third feminine singular suffix (יה-, yod-hey) has been misread as masculine (יו-, yod-vav). In later Hebrew script a ה (he) resembles a יו- (yod-vav) combination.

[9:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and I will rebuild as in days of antiquity.”

[9:12]  ²⁷ sn They probably refers to the Israelites or to the Davidic rulers of the future.

[9:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “take possession of the remnant of Edom”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “possess the remnant of Edom.”

[9:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “nations over whom my name is proclaimed.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership, sometimes as a result of conquest. See 2 Sam 12:28.

[9:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ³² sn The plowman will catch up to the reaper. Plowing occurred in October-November, and harvesting in April-May (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109.) But in the future age of restored divine blessing, there will be so many crops the reapers will take all summer to harvest them, and it will be time for plowing again before the harvest is finished.

[9:13]  ³³ sn When the grapes had been harvested, they were placed in a press where workers would stomp on them with their feet and squeeze out the juice. For a discussion of grape harvesting technique, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-12.

[9:13]  ³⁴ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ³⁵ sn The grape harvest occurred in August-September, planting in November-December (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109). But in the future age described here there will be so many grapes the workers who stomp them will still be working when the next planting season arrives.

[9:13]  ³⁶ tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[9:14]  ³⁸ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ³⁹ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ⁴² tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.