Jeremiah 17:14

17:14 Lord, grant me relief from my suffering

so that I may have some relief.

Rescue me from those who persecute me

so that I may be rescued. ¹ 

Jeremiah 51:9

51:9 Foreigners living there will say, ² 

‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed.

Let’s leave Babylonia ³  and each go back to his own country.

For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions.

It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’ ⁴ 

Jeremiah 3:22

3:22 Come back to me, you wayward people.

I want to cure your waywardness. ⁵ 

Say, ⁶  ‘Here we are. We come to you

because you are the Lord our God.

Jeremiah 6:14

6:14 They offer only superficial help

for the harm my people have suffered. ⁷ 

They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’

But everything is not all right! ⁸ 

Jeremiah 8:11

8:11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people ⁹  have suffered. ¹⁰ 

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right! ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 33:6

33:6 But I will most surely ¹²  heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. ¹³  I will show them abundant ¹⁴  peace and security.

Jeremiah 51:8

51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ¹⁵ 

Cry out in mourning over it!

Get medicine for her wounds!

Perhaps she can be healed!

Jeremiah 8:22

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ¹⁶  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ¹⁷ 

Why then have my dear people ¹⁸ 

not been restored to health? ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 15:18

15:18 Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish?

Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound?

Will you let me down when I need you

like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 30:17

30:17 Yes, ²¹  I will restore you to health.

I will heal your wounds.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ²² 

For you have been called an outcast,

Zion, whom no one cares for.”

Jeremiah 19:11

19:11 Tell them the Lord who rules over all says, ²³  ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. ²⁴  I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. ²⁵  The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’ ²⁶ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn The translation fills in the details of the metaphor from a preceding context (15:18) and from the following context (17:18). The literal translation “Heal me and I will be healed. Rescue me and I will be rescued.” does not make much sense if these details are not filled in. The metaphor is filled in for clarity for the average reader.

[51:9]  ² tn The words “Foreigners living there will say” are not in the text but are implicit from the third line. These words are generally assumed by the commentaries and are explicitly added in TEV and NCV which are attempting to clarify the text for the average reader.

[51:9]  ³ tn Heb “Leave/abandon her.” However, it is smoother in the English translation to make this verb equivalent to the cohortative that follows.

[51:9]  ⁴ tn This is an admittedly very paraphrastic translation that tries to make the figurative nuance of the Hebrew original understandable for the average reader. The Hebrew text reads: “For her judgment [or punishment (cf. BDB 1078 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f) = ‘execution of judgment’] touches the heavens, and is lifted up as far as the clouds.” The figure of hyperbole or exaggeration is being used here to indicate the vastness of Babylon’s punishment which is the reason to escape (vv. 6, 9c). For this figure see Deut 1:28 in comparison with Num 13:28 and see also Deut 9:1. In both of the passages in Deut it refers to an exaggeration about the height of the walls of fortified cities. The figure also may be a play on Gen 11:4 where the nations gather in Babylon to build a tower that reaches to the skies. The present translation has interpreted the perfects here as prophetic because it has not happened yet or they would not be encouraging one another to leave and escape. For the idea here compare 50:16.

[3:22]  ³ tn Or “I will forgive your apostasies.” Heb “I will [or want to] heal your apostasies.” For the use of the verb “heal” (רָפָא, rafa’) to refer to spiritual healing and forgiveness see Hos 14:4.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Or “They say.” There is an obvious ellipsis of a verb of saying here since the preceding words are those of the Lord and the following are those of the people. However, there is debate about whether these are the response of the people to the Lord’s invitation, a response which is said to be inadequate according to the continuation in 4:1-4, or whether these are the Lord’s model for Israel’s confession of repentance to which he adds further instructions about the proper heart attitude that should accompany it in 4:1-4. The former implies a dialogue with an unmarked twofold shift in speaker between 3:22b-25 and 4:1-4:4 while the latter assumes the same main speaker throughout with an unmarked instruction only in 3:22b-25. This disrupts the flow of the passage less and appears more likely.

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”

[6:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[8:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”

[8:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[33:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Behold I am healing.” For the usage of the particle “behold” indicating certainty see the translator’s note on 1:6. These are the great and hidden things that the Lord promised to reveal. The statements in v. 5 have been somewhat introductory. See the usage of הִנְנִי (hinni) after the introductory “Thus says the Lord” in Jer 32:28, 37.

[33:6]  ⁷ sn Compare Jer 30:17. Jerusalem is again being personified and her political and spiritual well-being are again in view.

[33:6]  ⁸ tn The meaning and text of this word is questioned by KBL 749 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת. However, KBL also emends both occurrences of the verb from which BDB 801 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת derives this noun. BDB is more likely correct in seeing this and the usage of the verb in Prov 27:6; Ezek 35:13 as Aramaic loan words from a root meaning to be rich (equivalent to the Hebrew עָשַׁר, ’ashar).

[51:8]  ⁷ tn The verbs in this verse and the following are all in the Hebrew perfect tense, a tense that often refers to a past action or a past action with present results. However, as the translator’s notes have indicated, the prophets use this tense to view the actions as if they were as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The stance here is ideal, viewed as already accomplished.

[8:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

[8:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ¹¹ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

[15:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “Will you be to me like a deceptive (brook), like waters which do not last [or are not reliable].”

[30:17]  ¹⁰ tn Again the particle כִּי (ki) appears to be intensive rather than causal. Compare the translator’s note on v. 12. It is possible that it has an adversative sense as an implicit contrast with v. 13 which expresses these concepts in the negative (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e for this use in statements which are contextually closer to one another).

[30:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[19:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For this title see the study note on 2:19. The translation attempts to avoid the confusion of embedding quotes within quotes by reducing this one to an indirect quote.

[19:11]  ¹² tn The adverb “Thus” or “Like this” normally points back to something previously mentioned. See, e.g., Exod 29:35; Num 11:15; 15:11; Deut 25:9.

[19:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “Like this I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks the vessel of a potter which is not able to be repaired.”

[19:11]  ¹⁴ sn See Jer 7:22-23 for parallels.