Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ² 

Why are wicked people successful? ³ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Jeremiah 20:12

20:12 O Lord who rules over all, ⁴  you test and prove the righteous.

You see into people’s hearts and minds. ⁵ 

Pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Jeremiah 23:5

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ⁶  that a new time will certainly come ⁷ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ⁸  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁹ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁰ 

[12:1]  ¹ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ² tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ³ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[20:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[20:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Lord of armies, the one who tests the righteous, who sees kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[23:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ¹¹ sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).