Jeremiah 11:18

A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice

11:18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding. ¹ 

Then he showed me what the people were doing. 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 21:14

21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’

says the Lord. ⁴ 

‘I will set fire to your palace;

it will burn up everything around it.’” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 23:22

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, ⁶ 

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

Jeremiah 4:18

4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done ⁷ 

will bring this on you.

This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. ⁸ 

The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 7:3

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁰  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹¹  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ¹² 

Jeremiah 7:5

7:5 You must change ¹³  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 26:3

26:3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ¹⁵  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ¹⁶  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 26:13

26:13 But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹⁸  Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 32:19

32:19 You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. ²⁰  You see everything people do. ²¹  You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do. ²² 

Jeremiah 4:4

4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin

as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,

you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord

and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, ²³ 

people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

If you do not, ²⁴  my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you

that no one will be able to extinguish.

That will happen because of the evil you have done.”

Jeremiah 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ²⁵  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ²⁶  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ²⁷  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ²⁹ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ³⁰  are judged fairly. ³¹ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ³²  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ³³ 

Jeremiah 23:2

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ³⁴  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ³⁵  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³⁶ 

Jeremiah 25:5

25:5 He said through them, ³⁷  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ³⁸  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ³⁹ 

Jeremiah 44:22

44:22 Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ⁴⁰ 

Jeremiah 35:15

35:15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said, “Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. ⁴¹  Do not pay allegiance to other gods ⁴²  and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.

[11:18]  ¹ tn Heb “caused me to know that I might know.” Many English versions supply an unstated object “their plots” which is referred to later in the context (cf. v. 19). The presupposition of this kind of absolute ellipsis is difficult to justify and would create the need for understanding an ellipsis of “it” also after “I knew.” It is better to see a bipolar use of the verb “know” here. For the second use of the verb “know” meaning “have understanding” see BDB 394 s.v. ָידַע Qal.5.

[11:18]  ² tn Heb “Then you showed me their deeds.” This is another example of the rapid shift in person which is common in Jeremiah. As elsewhere, it has been resolved for the sake of avoiding confusion for the English reader by leveling the referent to the same person throughout. The text again involves an apostrophe, talking about the Lord to addressing him.

[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.

[21:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[21:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.

[23:22]  ⁷ tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.

[4:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”

[4:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “How bitter!”

[4:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ¹² tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:5]  ¹³ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[26:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will turn from his wicked way.”

[26:3]  ¹⁶ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[26:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of their deeds.”

[26:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.

[26:13]  ¹⁸ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

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

[32:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”

[32:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”

[4:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your heart.” The translation is again an attempt to bring out the meaning of a metaphor. The mention of the “foreskin of the heart” shows that the passage is obviously metaphorical and involves heart attitude, not an external rite.

[4:4]  ²² tn Heb “lest.”

[18:11]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ²⁴ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.

[21:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

[21:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

[21:12]  ²⁷ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

[21:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[21:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”

[23:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

[23:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

[23:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[44:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “And/Then the Lord could no longer endure because of the evil of your deeds [and] because of the detestable things that you did and [or so] your land became a desolation and a waste and an occasion of a curse without inhabitant as this day.” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style, but an attempt has been made to preserve the causal and consequential connections.

[35:15]  ³³ tn Heb “Turn, each of you, from his [= your] wicked way and make good your deeds.” Compare 18:11 where the same idiom occurs with the added term of “make good your ways.”

[35:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Don’t go after/follow other gods.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom and see 11:10; 13:10; 25:6 for the same idiom.