Jeremiah 13:2

13:2 So I bought the shorts as the Lord had told me to do ¹  and put them on. ² 

Jeremiah 19:1

An Object Lesson from a Broken Clay Jar

19:1 The Lord told Jeremiah, ³  “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. ⁴  Take with you ⁵  some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders ⁶  of the priests.

Jeremiah 32:7

32:7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. He will say to you, “Buy my field at Anathoth because you are entitled ⁷  as my closest relative to buy it.”’ ⁸ 

Jeremiah 13:1

An Object Lesson from Ruined Linen Shorts

13:1 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy some linen shorts ⁹  and put them on. ¹⁰  Do not put them in water.” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 13:4

13:4 “Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing ¹²  and go at once ¹³  to Perath. ¹⁴  Bury the shorts there ¹⁵  in a crack in the rocks.”

Jeremiah 32:9

32:9 So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seven ounces of silver and gave it to him to pay for it. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 32:15

32:15 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁷  says, “Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”’ ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 32:25

32:25 The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. ¹⁹  Yet, in spite of this, ²⁰  you, Lord God, ²¹  have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’” ²² 

Jeremiah 32:43

32:43 You and your people ²³  are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. ²⁴  But fields ²⁵  will again be bought in this land. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 32:8

32:8 Now it happened just as the Lord had said! My cousin Hanamel ²⁷  came to me in the courtyard of the guardhouse. He said to me, ‘Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Buy it for yourself since you are entitled as my closest relative to take possession of it for yourself.’ When this happened, I recognized that the Lord had indeed spoken to me.

Jeremiah 32:44

32:44 Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. ²⁸  For I will restore them to their land. ²⁹  I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ³⁰ 

[13:2]  ¹ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”

[13:2]  ² tn Heb “upon your loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion including the figurative uses see R. C. Dentan, “Loins,” IDB 3:149-50.

[19:1]  ³ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text. Some Hebrew mss and some of the versions have “to me.” This section, 19:1–20:6 appears to be one of the biographical sections of the book of Jeremiah where incidents in his life are reported in third person. See clearly 9:14 and 20:1-3. The mss and versions do not represent a more original text but are translational or interpretive attempts to fill in a text which had no referent. They are like the translational addition that has been supplied on the basis of contextual indicators.

[19:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “an earthenware jar of the potter.”

[19:1]  ⁵ tc The words “Take with you” follow the reading of the Syriac version and to a certain extent the reading of the Greek version (the latter does not have “with you”). The Hebrew text does not have these words but they are undoubtedly implicit.

[19:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “elders” both here and before “of the people.”

[32:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “your right.” The term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here and in v. 8 refers to legal entitlement for the option to purchase a property (BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 5; cf. Deut 21:17).

[32:7]  ⁶ sn Underlying this request are the laws of redemption of property spelled out in Lev 25:25-34 and illustrated in Ruth 4:3-4. Under these laws, if a property owner became impoverished and had to sell his land, the nearest male relative had the right and duty to buy it so that it would not pass out of the use of the extended family. The land, however, would not actually belong to Jeremiah because in the year of Jubilee it reverted to its original owner. All Jeremiah was actually buying was the right to use it (Lev 25:13-17). Buying the field, thus, did not make any sense (thus Jeremiah’s complaint in v. 25) other than the fact that the Lord intended to use Jeremiah’s act as a symbol of a restored future in the land.

[13:1]  ⁷ tn The term here (אֵזוֹר, ’ezor) has been rendered in various ways: “girdle” (KJV, ASV), “waistband” (NASB), “waistcloth” (RSV), “sash” (NKJV), “belt” (NIV, NCV, NLT), and “loincloth” (NAB, NRSV, NJPS, REB). The latter is more accurate according to J. M. Myers, “Dress and Ornaments,” IDB 1:870, and W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:399. It was a short, skirt-like garment reaching from the waist to the knees and worn next to the body (cf. v. 9). The modern equivalent is “shorts” as in TEV/GNB, CEV.

[13:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “upon your loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion including the figurative uses see, IDB, “Loins,” 3:149.

[13:1]  ⁹ tn Or “Do not ever put them in water,” i.e., “Do not even wash them.”

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “which are upon your loins.” See further the notes on v. 1.

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Get up and go.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action.

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn There has been a great deal of debate about whether the place referred to here is a place (Parah [= Perath] mentioned in Josh 18:23, modern Khirbet Farah, near a spring ’ain Farah) about three and a half miles from Anathoth which was Jeremiah’s home town or the Euphrates River. Elsewhere the word “Perath” always refers to the Euphrates but it is either preceded by the word “river of” or there is contextual indication that the Euphrates is being referred to. Because a journey to the Euphrates and back would involve a journey of more than 700 miles (1,100 km) and take some months, scholars both ancient and modern have questioned whether “Perath” refers to the Euphrates here and if it does whether a real journey was involved. Most of the attempts to identify the place with the Euphrates involve misguided assumptions that this action was a symbolic message to Israel about exile or the corrupting influence of Assyria and Babylon. However, unlike the other symbolic acts in Jeremiah (and in Isaiah and Ezekiel) the symbolism is not part of a message to the people but to Jeremiah; the message is explained to him (vv. 9-11) not the people. In keeping with some of the wordplays that are somewhat common in Jeremiah it is likely that the reference here is to a place, Parah, which was near Jeremiah’s hometown, but whose name would naturally suggest to Jeremiah later in the Lord’s explanation in vv. 9-11 Assyria-Babylon as a place connected with Judah’s corruption (see the notes on vv. 9-10). For further discussion the reader should consult the commentaries, especially W. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:396 and W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:285-92 who take opposite positions on this issue.

[13:4]  ¹² sn The significance of this act is explained in vv. 9-10. See the notes there for explanation.

[32:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I weighed out the money [more literally, “silver”] for him, seventeen shekels of silver.”

[32:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For this title see 7:3 and the study notes on 2:19.

[32:15]  ¹⁴ sn The significance of the symbolic act performed by Jeremiah as explained here was a further promise (see the “again” statements in 31:4, 5, 23 and the “no longer” statements in 31:12, 29, 34, 40) of future restoration beyond the destruction implied in vv. 3-5. After the interruption of exile, normal life of buying and selling of fields, etc. would again be resumed and former property rights would be recognized.

[32:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And you, Lord Yahweh, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for…’ even though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians.” The sentence has been broken up and the order reversed for English stylistic purposes. For the rendering “is sure to fall into the hands of” see the translator’s note on the preceding verse.

[32:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Lord God.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 1:6.

[32:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “call in witnesses to witness.”

[32:43]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you.” However, the pronoun is plural and is addressed to more than just Jeremiah (v. 26). It includes Jeremiah and those who have accepted his prophecy of doom.

[32:43]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:43]  ¹⁹ tn The noun is singular with the article, but it is a case of the generic singular (cf. GKC 406 §126.m).

[32:43]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Fields will be bought in this land of which you [masc. pl.] are saying, ‘It will be desolate [a perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect] without man or beast; it will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’” The original sentence has been broken down to better conform to contemporary English style.

[32:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And according to the word of the Lord my cousin Hanamel came to me to the courtyard of the guardhouse and said, ‘…’” The sentence has been broken down to conform better with contemporary English style.

[32:44]  ²¹ tn Heb “They will buy fields with silver and write in the deed and seal [it] and have witnesses witness [it] in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the towns in Judah, in the towns in the hill country, in the towns in the Shephelah, and in the towns in the Negev.” The long Hebrew sentence has again been restructured to better conform to contemporary English style. The indefinite “they will buy” is treated as a passive. It is followed by three infinitive absolutes which substitute for the finite verb (cf. GKC 345 §113.y) which is a common feature of the style of the book of Jeremiah.

[32:44]  ²² tn Or “I will reverse their fortunes.” For this idiom see the translator’s note on 29:14 and compare the usage in 29:14; 30:3, 18; 31:23.

[32:44]  ²³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”