Jeremiah 1:8

1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, ¹  for I will be with you to protect ²  you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:12

1:12 Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means ³  I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 1:19

1:19 They will attack you but they will not be able to overcome you, for I will be with you to rescue you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 4:12

4:12 No, ⁵  a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.

Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ ⁶ 

Jeremiah 17:10

17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.

I examine people’s hearts. ⁷ 

I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.

I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

Jeremiah 21:5

21:5 In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 32:27

32:27 “I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 36:5

36:5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am no longer allowed to go ¹⁰  into the Lord’s temple.

Jeremiah 48:30

48:30 I, the Lord, affirm that ¹¹  I know how arrogant they are.

But their pride is ill-founded.

Their boastings will prove to be false. ¹² 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “rescue.”

[1:12]  ³ tn This represents the Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) that is normally rendered “for” or “because.” The particle here is meant to give the significance of the vision, not the rationale for the statement “you have observed correctly.”

[1:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “watching over my word to do it.”

[4:12]  ⁵ tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”

[4:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”

[17:10]  ⁷ tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.

[21:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “with outstretched hand and with strong arm.” These are, of course, figurative of God’s power and might. He does not literally have hands and arms.

[32:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” The question is rhetorical expecting an emphatic negative answer (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949, citing the parallel in Gen 18:14). The Hebrew particle “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh) introduces the grounds for this rhetorical negative (cf. T. O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, 170, §135 [3]), i.e., “Since I am the Lord, the God of all mankind, there is indeed nothing too hard for me [or is there anything too hard for me?].”

[36:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “I am restrained; I cannot go into.” The word “restrained” is used elsewhere in Jeremiah of his being confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse (33:1; 39:15). However, that occurred only later during the tenth year of Zedekiah (Jer 32:1-2) and Jeremiah appears here to be free to come and go as he pleased (vv. 19, 26). The word is used in the active voice of the Lord preventing Sarah from having a baby (Gen 16:2). The probable nuance is here “I am prevented/ debarred” from being able to go. No reason is given why he was prevented/debarred. It has been plausibly suggested that he was prohibited from going into the temple any longer because of the scathing sermon he delivered there earlier (Jer 26:1-3; 7:1-15).

[48:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:30]  ¹⁶ tn The meaning of this verse is somewhat uncertain: Heb “I know, oracle of the Lord,/ his arrogance and [that it is?] not true; // his boastings accomplish that which is not true.” Several of the modern English versions and commentaries redivide the verse and read something like, “I know his insolence…his boastings are false; his deeds are false (NRSV, REB).” However, the word translated “deeds” in the last line is a verb in the third person plural and can only have as its logical grammatical subject the word “boastings.” The adjective כֵּן (ken) + the negative לֹא (lo’) is evidently repeated here and applied to two different subjects “arrogance” and “boasting” to emphasize that Moab’s arrogant boasts will prove “untrue” (Cf. HALOT 459 s.v. II כֵּן 2.c for the meaning “untrue” for both this passage and the parallel one in Isa 16:6). There is some difference of opinion about the identification of the “I” in this verse. Most commentators see it as referring to the prophet. However, F. B. Huey (Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 395) is probably correct in seeing it as referring to the Lord. He points to the fact that the “I” in vv. 33, 35, 38 can only refer to God. The “I know” in v. 30 also clearly has the Lord as its subject. There are other cases in the book of Jeremiah where the Lord expresses his lament over the fate of a people (cf. 14:1-6, 17-18).