Jeremiah 14:21

14:21 For the honor of your name, ¹  do not treat Jerusalem ²  with contempt.

Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. ³ 

Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! ⁴ 

Jeremiah 18:20

18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?

Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ⁵ 

Just remember how I stood before you

pleading on their behalf ⁶ 

to keep you from venting your anger on them. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 20:15

20:15 Cursed be the man

who made my father very glad

when he brought him the news

that a baby boy had been born to him! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ⁹ 

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like ¹⁰  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

[14:21]  ¹ tn Heb “For the sake of your name.”

[14:21]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:21]  ³ tn English versions quite commonly supply “us” as an object for the verb in the first line. This is probably wrong. The Hebrew text reads: “Do not treat with contempt for the sake of your name; do not treat with disdain your glorious throne.” This is case of poetic parallelism where the object is left hanging until the second line. For an example of this see Prov 13:1 in the original and consult E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 103-4. There has also been some disagreement whether “your glorious throne” refers to the temple (as in 17:12) or Jerusalem (as in 3:17). From the beginning of the prayer in v. 19 where a similar kind of verb has been used with respect to Zion/Jerusalem it would appear that the contextual referent is Jerusalem. The absence of an object from the first line makes it possible to retain part of the metaphor in the translation and still convey some meaning.

[14:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “Remember, do not break your covenant with us.”

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.

[18:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.

[18:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”

[20:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “Cursed be the man who brought my father the news saying, ‘A son, a male, has been born to you,’ making glad his joy.” This verse has been restructured for English stylistic purposes.

[30:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.