Jeremiah 1:6

1:6 I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ¹  I really ²  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ³  for I am too young.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 1:11

Visions Confirming Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

1:11 Later the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

Jeremiah 1:13

1:13 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.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 3:7

3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ⁶  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 4:10

4:10 In response to all this ⁸  I said, “Ah, Lord God, ⁹  you have surely allowed ¹⁰  the people of Judah and Jerusalem ¹¹  to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ ¹²  But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 35:5

35:5 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.” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, ¹⁵ 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ¹⁶ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ¹⁷  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ¹⁸ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ¹⁹ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 11:5

11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” ²¹  That is the very land that you still live in today.’” ²²  And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, ²³  Lord!”

Jeremiah 14:13

14:13 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, ²⁴  look! ²⁵  The prophets are telling them that you said, ²⁶  ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine. ²⁷  I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’” ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 24:3

24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

[1:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.”

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “Behold, I do not know how to speak.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, commonly rendered “behold”) often introduces a speech and calls special attention to a specific word or the statement as a whole (see IBHS 675-78 §40.2.1).

[1:6]  ³ tn The words “well enough for that” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not claiming an absolute inability to speak.

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “I am a boy/youth.” The Hebrew word can refer to an infant (Exod 2:6), a young boy (1 Sam 2:11), a teenager (Gen 21:12), or a young man (2 Sam 18:5). The translation is deliberately ambiguous since it is unclear how old Jeremiah was when he was called to begin prophesying.

[1:13]  ⁵ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:10]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[35:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Drink wine.”

[3:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

[3:19]  ²² tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

[3:19]  ²³ tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

[3:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

[3:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my father.”

[3:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”

[11:5]  ²⁵ tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”

[11:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.

[11:5]  ²⁷ tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.

[14:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.

[14:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Behold.” See the translator’s note on usage of this particle in 1:6.

[14:13]  ³¹ tn The words “that you said” are not in the text but are implicit from the first person in the affirmation that follows. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:13]  ³² tn Heb “You will not see sword and you will not have starvation [or hunger].”

[14:13]  ³³ tn Heb “I will give you unfailing peace in this place.” The translation opts for “peace and prosperity” here for the word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) because in the context it refers both to peace from war and security from famine and plague. The word translated “lasting” (אֱמֶת, ’emet) is a difficult to render here because it has broad uses: “truth, reliability, stability, steadfastness,” etc. “Guaranteed” or “lasting” seem to fit the context the best.