Discovery BoxJeremiah 11:19
Context11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me. 1
I did not know they were saying, 2
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! 3
Let’s remove Jeremiah 4 from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” 5
Jeremiah 11:1
Context11:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 6
Jeremiah 23:11-12
Context23:11 Moreover, 7 the Lord says, 8
“Both the prophets and priests are godless.
I have even found them doing evil in my temple!
23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.
They will stumble and fall headlong.
For I will bring disaster on them.
A day of reckoning is coming for them.” 9
The Lord affirms it! 10
Jeremiah 23:2
Context23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people 11 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. 12 I, the Lord, affirm it! 13
Jeremiah 6:9-10
Context6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all 14 said to me: 15
“Those who remain in Israel will be
like the grapes thoroughly gleaned 16 from a vine.
So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester
passing your hand over the branches one last time.” 17
“Who would listen
if I spoke to them and warned them? 19
Their ears are so closed 20
that they cannot hear!
Indeed, 21 what the Lord says is offensive to them.
They do not like it at all. 22
Jeremiah 6:14-20
Context6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered. 23
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right! 24
6:15 Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?
No, they are not at all ashamed.
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die, just like others have died. 25
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
6:16 The Lord said to his people: 26
“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. 27
Ask where the old, reliable paths 28 are.
Ask where the path is that leads to blessing 29 and follow it.
If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”
But they said, “We will not follow it!”
“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, 31 saying:
‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” 32
But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
“Hear, you nations!
Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people. 34
6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth: 35
‘Take note! 36 I am about to bring disaster on these people.
It will come as punishment for their scheming. 37
For they have paid no attention to what I have said, 38
and they have rejected my law.
6:20 I take no delight 39 when they offer up to me 40
frankincense that comes from Sheba
or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.
I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.
I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ 41
Ezekiel 8:6-18
Context8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people 42 of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
8:7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8:8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.
8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure 43 of creeping thing and beast – detestable images 44 – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 45 8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel 46 (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant 47 vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.
8:12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? 48 For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 8:13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”
8:14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed 49 women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 50 8:15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”
8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there 51 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, 52 were about twenty-five 53 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, 54 facing east – they were worshiping the sun 55 toward the east!
8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! 56 8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare 57 them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
Matthew 21:3
Context21:3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ 58 and he will send them at once.”
Romans 3:7
Context3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances 59 his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner?
[11:19] 1 tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[11:19] 2 tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[11:19] 3 tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).
[11:19] 4 tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.
[11:19] 5 tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”
[11:1] 6 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
[23:11] 7 tn The particle כִּי (ki) which begins this verse is parallel to the one at the beginning of the preceding verse. However, the connection is too distant to render it “for.” “Moreover” is intended to draw the parallel. The words “the
[23:11] 8 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[23:12] 9 tn For the last two lines see 11:23 and the notes there.
[23:12] 10 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[23:2] 11 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] 12 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
[23:2] 13 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[6:9] 14 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[6:9] 15 tn The words “to me” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:9] 16 tn Heb “They will thoroughly glean those who are left in Israel like a vine.” That is, they will be carried off by judgment. It is not necessary to read the verb forms here as two imperatives or an infinitive absolute followed by an imperative as some English versions and commentaries do. This is an example of a third plural verb used impersonally and translated as a passive (cf. GKC 460 §144.g).
[6:9] 17 tn Heb “Pass your hand back over the branches like a grape harvester.” The translation is intended to clarify the metaphor that Jeremiah should try to rescue some from the coming destruction.
[6:10] 18 tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:10] 19 tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”
[6:10] 20 tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”
[6:10] 22 tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”
[6:14] 23 tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”
[6:14] 24 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
[6:15] 25 tn Heb “They will fall among the fallen.”
[6:16] 26 tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
[6:16] 27 tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”
[6:16] 28 tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the
[6:16] 29 tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”
[6:17] 30 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
[6:17] 31 tn Heb “I appointed watchmen over you.”
[6:17] 32 tn Heb “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet.” The word “warning” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
[6:18] 33 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the flow of the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:18] 34 tn Heb “Know, congregation [or witness], what in [or against] them.” The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The meaning of the noun of address in the second line (“witness,” rendered as an imperative in the translation, “Be witnesses”) is greatly debated. It is often taken as “congregation” but the lexicons and commentaries generally question the validity of reading that word since it is nowhere else applied to the nations. BDB 417 s.v. עֵדָה 3 says that the text is dubious. HALOT 747 s.v. I עֵדָה, 4 emends the text to דֵּעָה (de’ah). Several modern English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, God’s Word) take it as the feminine singular noun “witness” (cf. BDB 729 s.v. II עֵדָה) and understand it as a collective. This solution is also proposed by J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 259, n. 3) and appears to make the best sense in the context. The end of the line is very elliptical but is generally taken as either, “what I will do with/to them,” or “what is coming against them” (= “what will happen to them”) on the basis of the following context.
[6:19] 37 tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”
[6:20] 39 tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
[6:20] 40 tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:20] 41 tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.
[8:10] 44 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
[8:10] 45 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
[8:11] 46 sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).
[8:11] 47 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[8:12] 48 tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[8:14] 49 tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”
[8:14] 50 sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.
[8:16] 51 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
[8:16] 52 sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).
[8:16] 53 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.
[8:16] 54 sn The temple faced east.
[8:16] 55 tn Or “the sun god.”
[8:17] 56 tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”
[8:18] 57 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[21:3] 58 sn The custom called angaria allowed the impressment of animals for service to a significant figure.
