Jeremiah 14:20

14:20 Lord, we confess that we have been wicked.

We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. ¹ 

We have indeed ²  sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:7

14:7 Then I said, ³ 

“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name ⁴ 

even though our sins speak out against us. ⁵ 

Indeed, ⁶  we have turned away from you many times.

We have sinned against you.

Jeremiah 3:25

3:25 Let us acknowledge ⁷  our shame.

Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. ⁸ 

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From earliest times to this very day

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

Jeremiah 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, ⁹ 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ¹⁰ 

Let us at least die there fighting, ¹¹ 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ¹² 

because we have sinned against him. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 16:10

The Lord Promises Exile (But Also Restoration)

16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, ¹⁴  they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’

[14:20]  ¹ tn Heb “We acknowledge our wickedness [and] the iniquity of our [fore]fathers.” For the use of the word “know” to mean “confess,” “acknowledge” cf. BDB 394 s.v. יָדַע, Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 3:13.

[14:20]  ² tn This is another example of the intensive use of כִּי (ki). See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.

[14:7]  ³ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. However, it cannot be a continuation of the Lord’s speech and the people have consistently refused to acknowledge their sin. The fact that the prayer here and in vv. 19-22 are followed by an address from God to Jeremiah regarding prayer (cf. 4:11 and the interchanges there between God and Jeremiah and 15:1) also argues that the speaker is Jeremiah. He is again identifying with his people (cf. 8:18-9:2). Here he takes up the petition part of the lament which often contains elements of confession of sin and statements of trust. In 14:1-6 God portrays to Jeremiah the people’s lamentable plight instead of their describing it to him. Here Jeremiah prays what they should pray. The people are strangely silent throughout.

[14:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “Act for the sake of your name.” The usage of “act” in this absolute, unqualified sense cf. BDB 794 s.v. עָוֹשָׂה Qal.I.r and compare the usage, e.g., in 1 Kgs 8:32 and 39. For the nuance of “for the sake of your name” compare the usage in Isa 48:9 and Ezek 20:9, 14.

[14:7]  ⁵ tn Or “bear witness against us,” or “can be used as evidence against us,” to keep the legal metaphor. Heb “testify against.”

[14:7]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can scarcely be causal here; it is either intensive (BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) or concessive (BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c). The parallel usage in Gen 18:20 argues for the intensive force as does the fact that the concessive has already been expressed by אִם (’im).

[3:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let us lie down in….”

[3:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let us be covered with disgrace.”

[8:14]  ⁷ tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

[8:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

[8:14]  ¹⁰ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

[8:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

[16:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “all these words/things.”