Jeremiah 12:4

12:4 How long must the land be parched ¹ 

and the grass in every field be withered?

How long ²  must the animals and the birds die

because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ³ 

For these people boast,

“God ⁴  will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 20:6

20:6 You, Pashhur, and all your household ⁶  will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 25:29-30

25:29 For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ⁸  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ⁹  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁰  affirm it!’ ¹¹ 

25:30 “Then, Jeremiah, ¹²  make the following prophecy ¹³  against them:

‘Like a lion about to attack, ¹⁴  the Lord will roar from the heights of heaven;

from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly.

He will roar mightily against his land. ¹⁵ 

He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes ¹⁶ 

against all those who live on the earth.

Jeremiah 36:31

36:31 I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ¹⁷  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ¹⁸  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 49:20

49:20 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom,

what I intend to do to ²⁰  the people who live in Teman. ²¹ 

Their little ones will be dragged off.

I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. ²² 

Jeremiah 49:30

49:30 The Lord says, ²³  “Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor. ²⁴ 

Take up refuge in remote places. ²⁵ 

For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you.

He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.” ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 51:12

51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ²⁷ 

Bring more guards! ²⁸ 

Post them all around the city! ²⁹ 

Put men in ambush! ³⁰ 

For the Lord will do what he has planned.

He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ³¹ 

[12:4]  ¹ tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).

[12:4]  ² tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.

[12:4]  ³ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.

[12:4]  ⁵ tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.

[20:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “all who live in your house.” This included his family and his servants.

[20:6]  ⁷ sn As a member of the priesthood and the protector of order in the temple, Pashhur was undoubtedly one of those who promulgated the deceptive belief that the Lord’s presence in the temple was a guarantee of Judah’s safety (cf. 7:4, 8). Judging from the fact that two other men held the same office after the leading men in the city were carried into exile in 597 b.c. (see Jer 29:25-26 and compare 29:1-2 for the date and 2 Kgs 24:12-16 for the facts), this prophecy was probably fulfilled in 597. For a similar kind of oracle of judgment see Amos 7:10-17.

[25:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “which is called by my name.” See translator’s note on 7:10 for support.

[25:29]  ¹² tn This is an example of a question without the formal introductory particle following a conjunctive vav introducing an opposition. (See Joüon 2:609 §161.a.) It is also an example of the use of the infinitive before the finite verb in a rhetorical question involving doubt or denial. (See Joüon 2:422-23 §123.f, and compare usage in Gen 37:8.)

[25:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.”

[25:30]  ¹⁶ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to make clear who is being addressed.

[25:30]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Prophesy against them all these words.”

[25:30]  ¹⁸ tn The words “like a lion about to attack” are not in the text but are implicit in the metaphor. The explicit comparison of the Lord to a lion is made at the end of the passage in v. 38. The words are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[25:30]  ¹⁹ sn The word used here (Heb “his habitation”) refers to the land of Canaan which the Lord chose to make his earthly dwelling (Exod 15:13) and which was the dwelling place of his chosen people (Jer 10:25; Isa 32:18). Judgment would begin at the “house of God” (v. 29; 1 Pet 4:17) but would extend to the rest of the earth (v. 29).

[25:30]  ²⁰ sn The metaphor shifts from God as a lion to God as a mighty warrior (Jer 20:11; Isa 42:13; Zeph 3:17) shouting in triumph over his foes. Within the metaphor is a simile where the warrior is compared to a person stomping on grapes to remove the juice from them in the making of wine. The figure will be invoked later in a battle scene where the sounds of joy in the grape harvest are replaced by the sounds of joy of the enemy soldiers (Jer 48:33). The picture is drawn in more gory detail in Isa 63:1-6.

[36:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “for their iniquity.”

[36:31]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:31]  ²³ tn Heb “all the disaster which I spoke against them and they did not listen [or obey].”

[49:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Therefore listen to the plan of the Lord which he has planned against Edom, and the purposes which he has purposed against…” The first person has again been adopted in the translation to avoid the shift from the first person address in v. 19 to the third person in v. 20, a shift that is common in Hebrew poetry, particularly Hebrew prophecy, but which is not common in contemporary English literature.

[49:20]  ²⁷ sn Teman here appears to be a poetic equivalent for Edom, a common figure of speech in Hebrew poetry where the part is put for the whole. “The people of Teman” is thus equivalent to all the people of Edom.

[49:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “They will surely drag them off, namely the young ones of the flock. He will devastate their habitation [or their sheepfold] on account of them.” The figure of the lion among the flock of sheep appears to be carried on here where the people are referred to as a flock and their homeland is referred to as a sheepfold. It is hard, however, to carry the figure over here into the translation, so the figures have been interpreted instead. Both of these last two sentences are introduced by a formula that indicates a strong affirmative oath (i.e., they are introduced by אִם לֹא [’im lo’; cf. BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b(2)]). The subject of the verb “they will drag them off” is the indefinite third plural which may be taken as a passive in English (cf. GKC 460 §144.g). The subject of the last line is the Lord which has been rendered in the first person for stylistic reasons (see the translator’s note on the beginning of the verse).

[49:30]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:30]  ³² map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[49:30]  ³³ tn Heb “Make deep to dwell.” See Jer 49:8 and the translator’s note there. The use of this same phrase here argues against the alternative there of going down from a height and going back home.

[49:30]  ³⁴ tn Heb “has counseled a counsel against you, has planned a plan against you.”

[51:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”

[51:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

[51:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Station the guards.”

[51:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”

[51:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “For the Lord has both planned and done what he said concerning the people living in Babylon,” i.e., “he has carried out what he planned.” Here is an obvious case where the perfects are to be interpreted as prophetic; the commands imply that the attack is still future.