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 3:5

3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?

You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ⁵ 

That is what you say,

but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ⁶ 

Jeremiah 4:12

4:12 No, ⁷  a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.

Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ ⁸ 

Jeremiah 10:1

The Lord, not Idols, is the Only Worthy Object of Worship

10:1 You people of Israel, ⁹  listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

Jeremiah 11:2

11:2 “Hear ¹⁰  the terms of the covenant ¹¹  I made with Israel ¹²  and pass them on ¹³  to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 18:7

18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, ¹⁵  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 22:1

22:1 The Lord told me, ¹⁷  “Go down ¹⁸  to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 23:21

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ²⁰ 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

Jeremiah 23:37

23:37 Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’ ²¹ 

Jeremiah 28:7

28:7 But listen to what I say to you and to all these people. ²² 

Jeremiah 30:4

Israel and Judah Will Be Delivered after a Time of Deep Distress

30:4 So here is what the Lord has to say about Israel and Judah. ²³ 

Jeremiah 34:6

34:6 The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 38:8

38:8 Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king. He said to him,

Jeremiah 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 50:1

Judgment Against Babylon

50:1 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia ²⁵  through the prophet Jeremiah. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 52:32

52:32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than ²⁷  the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

[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.

[3:5]  ⁵ 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.

[3:5]  ⁶ 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.”

[4:12]  ⁹ tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”

[4:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”

[10:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[11:2]  ¹⁷ tn The form is a second masculine plural which is followed in the MT of vv. 2-3 by second masculine singulars. This plus the fact that the whole clause “listen to the terms of this covenant” is nearly repeated at the end of v. 3 has led many modern scholars to delete the whole clause (cf., e.g. W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:236-37). However, this only leads to further adjustments in the rest of the verse which are difficult to justify. The form has also led to a good deal of speculation about who these others were that are initially addressed here. The juxtaposition of second plural and singular forms has a precedent in Deuteronomy, where the nation is sometimes addressed with the plural and at other times with a collective singular.

[11:2]  ¹⁸ sn The covenant I made with Israel. Apart from the legal profession and Jewish and Christian tradition the term “covenant” may not be too familiar. There were essentially three kinds of “covenants” that were referred to under the Hebrew term used here: (1) “Parity treaties” or “covenants” between equals in which each party pledged itself to certain agreed upon stipulations and took an oath to it in the name of their god or gods (cf. Gen 31:44-54); (2) “Suzerain-vassal treaties” or “covenants” in which a great king pledged himself to protect the vassal’s realm and his right to rule over his own domain in exchange for sovereignty over the vassal, including the rendering of absolute loyalty and submission to the great king’s demands spelled out in detailed stipulations; (3) “Covenants of grant” in which a great king granted to a loyal servant or vassal king permanent title to a piece of land or dominion over a specified realm in recognition of past service. It is generally recognized that the Mosaic covenant which is being referred to here is of the second type and that it resembles in kind the ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaties. These treaties typically contained the following elements: (1) a preamble identifying the great king (cf. Exod 20:2a; Deut 1:1-4); (2) a historical prologue summarizing the great king’s past benefactions as motivation for future loyalty (cf. Exod 20:2b; Deut 1:5–4:43); (3) the primary stipulation of absolute and unconditional loyalty (cf. Exod 20:3-8; Deut 5:1–11:32); (4) specific stipulations governing future relations between the vassal and the great king and the vassal’s relation to other vassals (cf. Exod 20:22–23:33; Deut 12:1–26:15); (5) the invoking of curses on the vassal for disloyalty and the pronouncing of blessing on him for loyalty (cf. Lev 26; Deut 27-28); (6) the invoking of witnesses to the covenant, often the great king’s and the vassal’s gods (cf. Deut 30:19; 31:28 where the reference is to the “heavens and the earth” as enduring witnesses). It is also generally agreed that the majority of the threats of punishment by the prophets refer to the invocation of these covenant curses for disloyalty to the basic stipulation, that of absolute loyalty.

[11:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this covenant.” The referent of “this” is left dangling until it is further defined in vv. 3-4. Leaving it undefined in the translation may lead to confusion hence the anticipatory nature of the demonstrative is spelled out explicitly in the translation.

[11:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and speak/tell them.” However, the translation chosen is more appropriate to modern idiom.

[11:2]  ²¹ tn Or “those living in Jerusalem”; Heb “inhabitants of.”

[18:7]  ²¹ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lord’s words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.

[18:7]  ²² tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.

[22:1]  ²⁵ tn The word “me “ is not in the text. It is, however, implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:1]  ²⁶ sn The allusion here is to going down from the temple to the palace which was on a lower eminence. See 36:12 in its context.

[22:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And speak there this word:” The translation is intended to eliminate an awkward and lengthy sentence.

[23:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Yet they ran.”

[23:37]  ³³ tn See the note on v. 35.

[28:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Listen to this word/message which I am about to speak in your ears and the ears of all these people.”

[30:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “And these are the words/things that the Lord speaks concerning Israel and Judah.”

[44:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.

[50:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.”

[52:32]  ⁵³ tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of