Jeremiah 10:23

10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. ¹ 

It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. ² 

Jeremiah 17:10

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

I examine people’s hearts. ³ 

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

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

Jeremiah 4:3

4:3 Yes, ⁴  the Lord has this to say

to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,

you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;

just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,

you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 23:36

23:36 You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ⁶  For what is ‘burdensome’ ⁷  really pertains to what a person himself says. ⁸  You are misrepresenting ⁹  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 32:19

32:19 You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. ¹¹  You see everything people do. ¹²  You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 3:1

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,

he may not take her back again. ¹⁴ 

Doing that would utterly defile the land. ¹⁵ 

But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ¹⁶ 

So what makes you think you can return to me?” ¹⁷ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 26:11

26:11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, ¹⁸  “This man should be condemned to die ¹⁹  because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so ²⁰  with your own ears.”

Jeremiah 26:16

26:16 Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said, ²¹  “This man should not be condemned to die. ²²  For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.” ²³ 

Jeremiah 35:13

35:13 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²⁴  told him, “Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them, ²⁵  ‘I, the Lord, say: ²⁶  “You must learn a lesson from this ²⁷  about obeying what I say! ²⁸ 

[10:23]  ¹ tn Heb “Not to the man his way.” For the nuance of “fate, destiny, or the way things turn out” for the Hebrew word “way” see Hag 1:5, Isa 40:27 and probably Ps 49:13 (cf. KBL 218 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 5). For the idea of “control” or “hold in one’s power” for the preposition “to” see Ps 3:8 (cf. BDB 513 s.v. לְ 5.b[a]).

[10:23]  ² tn Heb “Not to a man the walking and the establishing his step.”

[17:10]  ³ 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.

[4:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew particle is obviously asseverative here since a causal connection appears to make little sense.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Plow up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns.” The translation is an attempt to bring out the force of a metaphor. The idea seems to be that they are to plow over the thorns and make the ground ready for the seeds which will produce a new crop where none had been produced before.

[23:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “burden of the Lord.”

[23:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “the burden.”

[23:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “The burden is [or will be] to a man his word.” There is a good deal of ambiguity regarding how this line is to be rendered. For the major options and the issues involved W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:651-52 should be consulted. Most of them are excluded by the observation that מַשָּׂא probably does not mean “oracle” anywhere in this passage (see note on v. 33 regarding the use of this word). Hence it does not mean “every man’s word becomes his oracle” as in NIV or “for that ‘burden’ [= oracle] is what he entrusts to the man of his word” (W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:600-601). The latter is also ruled out by the fact that the antecedent of “his” on “his word” is clearly the word “man” in front of it. This would be the only case where the phrase “man of his word” occurs. There is also no textual reason for repointing the noun with the article as the noun with the interrogative to read “For how can his word become a burden to anyone?” There are, of course, other options but this is sufficient to show that the translation has been chosen after looking at other alternatives.

[23:36]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turning.” See BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ Qal.1.c and Lev 13:55; Jer 13:33 “changing, altering.”

[23:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[32:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “[you are] great in counsel and mighty in deed.”

[32:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”

[32:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[3:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.

[26:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”

[26:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”

[26:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it.”

[26:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”

[26:16]  ¹⁶ sn Contrast v. 11.

[26:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “For in the name of the Lord our God he has spoken to us.” The emphasis is on “in the name of…”

[35:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For this title see 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.

[35:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “35:12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of armies the God of Israel, “Go and say…‘Will you not learn…’”’” The use of the indirect introduction has been chosen here as in 34:1-2 to try to cut down on the confusion created by embedding quotations within quotations.

[35:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[35:13]  ²⁰ tn The words “from this” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[35:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “Will you not learn a lesson…?” The rhetorical question here has the force of an imperative, made explicit in the translation.