Discovery BoxJeremiah 1:11
Context1:11 Later the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
Jeremiah 1:13
Context1:13 The Lord again asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water; it is tipped toward us from the north.” 1
Jeremiah 3:7
Context3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. 2 But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. 3
Jeremiah 4:10
Context4:10 In response to all this 4 I said, “Ah, Lord God, 5 you have surely allowed 6 the people of Judah and Jerusalem 7 to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ 8 But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” 9
Jeremiah 35:5
Context35:5 Then I set cups and pitchers full of wine in front of the members of the Rechabite community and said to them, “Have some wine.” 10
[1:13] 1 tn Heb “a blown upon [= heated; boiling] pot and its face from the face of the north [= it is facing away from the north].”
[3:7] 1 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.
[3:7] 2 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.
[4:10] 1 tn The words “In response to all this” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the connection.
[4:10] 2 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.
[4:10] 3 tn Or “You have deceived.” The Hiphil of נָשָׁא (nasha’, “to deceive”) is understood in a tolerative sense here: “to allow [someone] to be deceived.” IBHS 446 §27.5c notes that this function of the hiphil describes caused activity that is welcome to the undersubject, but unacceptable or disagreeable to a third party. Jerusalem and Judah welcomed the assurances of false prophets who deceived them. Although this was detestable to God, he allowed it.
[4:10] 4 tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”
[4:10] 5 tn Heb “Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’”; or “You have deceived the people of Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace.’” The words “you will be safe” are, of course, those of the false prophets (cf., Jer 6:14; 8:11; 14:13; 23:16-17). It is difficult to tell whether the charge here is meant literally as the emotional outburst of the prophet (compare for example, Jer 15:18) or whether it is to be understood as a figure of speech in which a verb of direct causation is to be understood as permissive or tolerative, i.e., God did not command the prophets to say this but allowed them to do so. While it is not beyond God to use false prophets to accomplish his will (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 22:19-23), he elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah directly denies having sent the false prophets to say such things as this (cf., e.g., Jer 14:14-15; 23:21, 32). For examples of the use of this figure of speech, see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 571, 823 and compare Ezek 20:25. The translation given attempts to resolve the issue.
[4:10] 6 tn Heb “touches the throat/soul.” For this use of the word usually translated “soul” or “life” cf. HALOT 672 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 1, 2 and compare the use in Ps 105:18.
