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 38:4-6

38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹⁰  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ¹¹  This ¹²  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ¹³  38:5 King Zedekiah said to them, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. ¹⁴  For I cannot do anything to stop you.” ¹⁵  38:6 So the officials ¹⁶  took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern ¹⁷  of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, ¹⁸  that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud. ¹⁹ 

[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.

[38:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).

[38:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by saying these things.”

[38:4]  ¹² tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.

[38:4]  ¹³ tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”

[38:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Behold, he is in your hands [= power/control].”

[38:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “For the king cannot do a thing with/against you.” The personal pronoun “I” is substituted in the English translation due to differences in style; Hebrew style often uses the third person or the title in speaking of oneself but English rarely if ever does. Compare the common paraphrasis of “your servant” for “I” in Hebrew (cf. BDB 714 s.v. עֶבֶד 6 and usage in 1 Sam 20:7, 8) and compare the usage in Pss 63:11 (63:12 HT); 61:6 (61:7 HT) where the king is praying for himself. For the meaning of יָכֹל (yakhol) as “to be able to do anything,” see BDB 407 s.v. יָכֹל 1.g.

[38:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they.”

[38:6]  ¹⁷ sn A cistern was a pear-shaped pit with a narrow opening. Cisterns were cut or dug in the limestone rock and lined with plaster to prevent seepage. They were used to collect and store rain water or water carried up from a spring.

[38:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the son of the king.” See the translator’s note on Jer 36:26 for the rendering here.

[38:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And they let Jeremiah down with ropes and in the cistern there was no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.” The clauses have been reordered and restructured to create a more natural and smoother order in English.