Jeremiah 16:11

16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, ¹  ‘It is because your ancestors ²  rejected me and paid allegiance to ³  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 31:33

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ⁵  after I plant them back in the land,” ⁶  says the Lord. ⁷  “I will ⁸  put my law within them ⁹  and write it on their hearts and minds. ¹⁰  I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹¹ 

[16:11]  ¹ tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’)” which occurs after “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read: “When you tell them these things and they say, ‘…’, then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”

[16:11]  ² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.

[31:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ¹⁰ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ¹¹ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.