Jeremiah 11:19

11:19 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 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁶  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁷  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ⁸  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ⁹  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 29:11

29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ¹⁰  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ¹¹  a future filled with hope. ¹² 

[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.”

[18:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[29:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ¹² tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ¹³ tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.