Jeremiah 15:5

15:5 The Lord cried out, ¹ 

“Who in the world ²  will have pity on you, Jerusalem?

Who will grieve over you?

Who will stop long enough ³ 

to inquire about how you are doing? ⁴ 

Jeremiah 49:19

49:19 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan ⁵ 

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. ⁶ 

So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. ⁷ 

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. ⁸ 

For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. ⁹ 

There is no ¹⁰  ruler ¹¹  who can stand up against me.

Jeremiah 50:44

50:44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.

So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land.

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.

For there is no one like me.

There is no one who can call me to account.

There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

Jeremiah 21:13

21:13 Listen, you ¹²  who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau.

I am opposed to you,’ ¹³  says the Lord. ¹⁴ 

‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us.

No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 23:18

23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle ¹⁶ 

so they ¹⁷  could see and hear what he has to say? ¹⁸ 

Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

Jeremiah 17:9

17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.

It is incurably bad. ¹⁹  Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 46:7

46:7 “Who is this that rises like the Nile,

like its streams ²⁰  turbulent at flood stage?

Jeremiah 49:4

49:4 Why do you brag about your great power?

Your power is ebbing away, ²¹  you rebellious people of Ammon, ²² 

who trust in your riches and say,

‘Who would dare to attack us?’

Jeremiah 2:24

2:24 You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.

In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. ²³ 

No one can hold her back when she is in heat.

None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.

At mating time she is easy to find. ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 9:1-2

9:1 (8:23) ²⁵  I wish that my head were a well full of water ²⁶ 

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people ²⁷  who have been killed.

9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert

where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. ²⁸ 

Then I would desert my people

and walk away from them

because they are all unfaithful to God,

a congregation ²⁹  of people that has been disloyal to him. ³⁰ 

Jeremiah 10:7

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ³¹ 

because you deserve to be revered. ³² 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ³³ 

Jeremiah 18:13

18:13 Therefore, the Lord says,

“Ask the people of other nations

whether they have heard of anything like this.

Israel should have been like a virgin.

But she has done something utterly revolting!

Jeremiah 6:10

6:10 I answered, ³⁴ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ³⁵ 

Their ears are so closed ³⁶ 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ³⁷  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ³⁸ 

Jeremiah 9:12

9:12 I said, ³⁹ 

“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ⁴⁰ 

Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ⁴¹ 

Why does the land lie in ruins?

Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

Jeremiah 30:21

30:21 One of their own people will be their leader.

Their ruler will come from their own number. ⁴² 

I will invite him to approach me, and he will do so. ⁴³ 

For no one would dare approach me on his own. ⁴⁴ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴⁵ 

Jeremiah 44:28

44:28 Some who survive in battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed! ⁴⁶  Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true, ⁴⁷  mine or theirs.’

[15:5]  ¹ tn The words “The Lord cried out” are not in the text. However, they are necessary to show the shift in address between speaking to Jeremiah in vv. 1-4 about the people and addressing Jerusalem in vv. 5-6 and the shift back to the address to Jeremiah in vv. 7-9. The words “oracle of the Lord” are, moreover, found at the beginning of v. 6.

[15:5]  ² tn The words, “in the world” are not in the text but are the translator’s way of trying to indicate that this rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[15:5]  ³ tn Heb “turn aside.”

[15:5]  ⁴ tn Or “about your well-being”; Heb “about your welfare” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom).

[49:19]  ⁵ tn See the study note on Jer 12:5 for the rendering of this term.

[49:19]  ⁶ tn “The pasture-ground on the everflowing river” according to KBL 42 s.v. I אֵיתָן 1. The “everflowing river” refers to the Jordan.

[49:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan into the pastureland of everflowing water so [reading כֵּן (ken) for כִּי (ki); or “indeed” (reading כִּי as an asseverative particle with J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 719, n. 6)] I will suddenly chase him [Edom] from upon it [the land].” The sentence has been restructured to better conform with contemporary English style and the significance of the simile drawn from the comparison has been spelled out for the sake of clarity. The form אַרְגִּיעָה (’argi’ah) is functioning here as an adverbial modifier in a verbal hendiadys (cf. GKC 386 §120.g).

[49:19]  ⁸ tn For the use of the interrogative מִי (mi) in the sense of “whoever” and functioning like an adjective see BDB 567 s.v. מִי g and compare the usage in Prov 9:4, 16.

[49:19]  ⁹ tn For the meaning of this verb in the sense of “arraign” or “call before the bar of justice” compare Job 9:19 and see BDB 417 s.v. יָעַד Hiph.

[49:19]  ¹⁰ tn The interrogative מִי (mi) is rendered “there is no one” in each of the last three occurrences in this verse because it is used in a rhetorical question that expects the answer “no one” or “none” and is according to BDB 566 s.v. מִי f(c) equivalent to a rhetorical negative.

[49:19]  ¹¹ tn The word “shepherd” (רֹעֶה, ro’eh) has been used often in the book of Jeremiah to refer metaphorically to the ruler or leader (cf. BDB 945 s.v. I רָעָה Qal.1.d(2) and compare usage, e.g., in Jer 2:8; 23:1).

[21:13]  ⁹ tn Or “Listen, Jerusalem, you…”; Heb text of v. 21a-b reads, “Behold I am against you [fem. sg.], O inhabitant [fem. sg.] of the valley [and of] the rock of the plain, oracle of the Lord, who are saying [masc. pl.].” Verses 13-14 are generally treated as a separate oracle addressed to Jerusalem. The basis for this is (1) the appropriateness of the description here to the city of Jerusalem; (2) the rather similar reference to Jerusalem smugly living in her buildings made from cedars of Lebanon in 22:23; (3) the use of the second feminine singular pronoun “you” in other places in reference to Jerusalem (cf. clearly in 4:14; 6:8; 13:20; 15:5-6); (4) the use of the feminine singular participle to refer to personified Jerusalem in 10:17 as well as 20:23. However, the description in 21:13 is equally appropriate to the royal household that the Lord has been addressing; the palace stood on the Ophel or fill between the northern and southern hill just south of the temple and overlooked the Kidron valley. Moreover, the word “enthroned” is even more fitting to the royal household than to Jerusalem. The phrase “enthroned above the valley” is literally “inhabitant of the valley.” But since the literal is inappropriate for either Jerusalem or the royal palace, the phrase is regularly interpreted after the parallel phrase referring to the Lord “enthroned above the cherubim.” The royal house was “enthroned” more literally than Jerusalem was. Taking this to refer to the royal court rather than Jerusalem also introduces one less unintroduced entity by the shift in pronoun in vv. 11-14 as well as eliminating the introduction of an otherwise unintroduced oracle. The “you” of “you boast” is actually the masculine plural participle (Heb “who say”) that modifies the feminine singular participle “you who sit enthroned” and goes back to the masculine plural imperatives in v. 12 rather than introducing a new entity, the people of the city. The participle “you who sit enthroned” is to be interpreted as a collective referring to the royal court not a personification of the city of Jerusalem (cf. GKC 394 §122.s and see, e.g., Isa 12:6; Mic 1:11). Moreover, taking the referent to be the royal court makes the reference to the word translated “palace” much more natural. The word is literally “forest” and is often seen to be an allusion to the armory which was called the “Forest of Lebanon” (1 Kgs 7:2; 10:17; 10:21; Isa 22:8 and see also Ezek 17:3 in an allegory (17:2-18) which may have been contemporary with this oracle). Taking the oracle to refer to the royal court also makes this oracle more parallel with the one that follows where destruction of the palace leads also to the destruction of the city.

[21:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I am against you.”

[21:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[21:13]  ¹² tn Heb “Who can swoop…Who can penetrate…?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. They are rendered as negative affirmations for clarity.

[23:18]  ¹³ tn Or “has been the Lord’s confidant.”

[23:18]  ¹⁴ tn The form here is a jussive with a vav of subordination introducing a purpose after a question (cf. GKC 322 §109.f).

[23:18]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “his word.” In the second instance (“what he has said” at the end of the verse) the translation follows the suggestion of the Masoretes (Qere) and many Hebrew mss rather than the consonantal text (Kethib) of the Leningrad Codex.

[17:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “incurably deceitful”; Heb “It is incurable.” For the word “deceitful” compare the usage of the verb in Gen 27:36 and a related noun in 2 Kgs 10:19. For the adjective “incurable” compare the usage in Jer 15:18. It is most commonly used with reference to wounds or of pain. In Jer 17:16 it is used metaphorically for a “woeful day” (i.e., day of irreparable devastation).

[46:7]  ²¹ tn The word translated “streams” here refers to the streams of the Nile (cf. Exod 7:19; 8:1) for parallel usage.

[49:4]  ²⁵ tn Or “Why do you brag about your valleys, about the fruitfulness of your valleys.” The meaning of the first two lines of this verse are uncertain primarily due to the ambiguity of the expression זָב עִמְקֵךְ (zav ’imqekh). The form זָב (zav) is either a Qal perfect or Qal participle of a verb meaning flow. It is common in the expression “a land flowing with milk and honey” and is also common to refer to the seminal discharge or discharge of blood which makes a man or woman unclean. BDB 264 s.v. זוּב Qal.2 sees it as an abbreviation of the idea of “flowing with milk and honey” and sees it as referring to the fertility of Ammon’s valley. However, there are no other examples of such an ellipsis. Several of the modern English versions and commentaries have taken the word עֵמֶק (’emeq) not as a reference to a valley but to the homonym cited in the note on 47:5 and see the reference here to the flowing away of Ammon’s strength. That interpretation is followed here. Instead of explaining the plural ending on עֲמָקִים (’amaqim) as being an enclitic ם (mem) as others who follow this interpretation (e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 325), the present translation understands the plural as a plural of amplification (cf. GKC 397-98 §124.e and compare the noun “might” in Isa 40:26).

[49:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “apostate daughter.” This same term is applied to Israel in Jer 31:22 but seems inappropriate here to Ammon because she had never been loyal to the Lord and could not hence be called “apostate.” However, if it is used of the fact that she rebelled against the Lord’s servant, Nebuchadnezzar, it might be appropriate (cf. Jer 27:6, 8). Hence the term “rebellious” is used in the translation to represent it. The word “daughter” is again a personification of the land (cf. BDB 123 s.v. בַּת 3) and is here translated “people of Ammon” to make it easier for the modern reader to identify the referent.

[2:24]  ²⁹ tn The words “to get the scent of a male” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:24]  ³⁰ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s irrepressible desire to worship other gods.

[9:1]  ³³ sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”

[9:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[9:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”

[9:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.

[9:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.

[10:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[6:10]  ⁴⁵ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[9:12]  ⁴⁹ tn The words, “I said” are not in the text. It is not clear that a shift in speaker has taken place. However, the words of the verse are very unlikely to be a continuation of the Lord’s threat. It is generally assumed that these are the words of Jeremiah and that a dialogue is going on between him and the Lord in vv. 9-14. That assumption is accepted here.

[9:12]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Who is the wise man that he may understand this?”

[9:12]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “And [who is the man] to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may explain it?”

[30:21]  ⁵³ sn The statement their ruler will come from their own number accords with the regulation in Deut 17:15. They would not be ruled by a foreign leader but by one of their own people. In v. 9 he is specifically said to come from the Davidic line. See the study note there.

[30:21]  ⁵⁴ sn Ordinarily this prerogative was confined to the priests and the Levites and even then under strict regulations (cf., e.g., Num 8:19; 16:10; Lev 16:10; 21:17; 22:3). Uzziah king of Judah violated this and suffered leprosy for having done so (2 Chr 26:16-20). It is clear, however, that both David and Solomon on occasion exercised priestly functions in the presence of the ark or the altar which it was normally lawful for only the priests to approach (cf., e.g., 2 Sam 6:13-14; 1 Kgs 8:22, 54-55). Here reference is probably not to the normal prerogatives of offering sacrifice or burning incense but access to God’s special presence at special times for the purpose of consultation.

[30:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “For who is he who would pledge his heart to draw near to me.” The question is a rhetorical one expecting the answer “no one” and is a way of expressing an emphatic negative (see BDB 566 s.v. מִי f[c]). The concept of “pledging” something refers to putting up security in guarantee of payment. Here the word is used figuratively of “putting up one’s heart [i.e., his very being (cf. BDB 524 s.v. לֵב 7 and Ps 22:26)]” for the privilege of access to God. The rhetorical question denies that any one would do that if he were not bidden by God to do so.

[30:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[44:28]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “The survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number [more literally, “men of number”; for the idiom see BDB 709 s.v. מִסְפָּר 1.a].” The term “survivors of the sword” may be intended to represent both those who survive death in war or death by starvation or disease, a synecdoche of species for all three genera.

[44:28]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “will stand,” i.e., in the sense of being fulfilled, proving to be true, or succeeding (see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g).