Jeremiah 18:14

18:14 Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon?

Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? ¹ 

Jeremiah 2:25

2:25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out

and your throats become dry. ² 

But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me

because I love those foreign gods ³  and want to pursue them!’

Jeremiah 30:8

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ⁴ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ⁵ 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ⁶ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ⁷ 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

Jeremiah 51:2

51:2 I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. ⁸ 

They will winnow her and strip her land bare. ⁹ 

This will happen when ¹⁰  they come against her from every direction,

when it is time to destroy her. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 51:51

51:51 ‘We ¹²  are ashamed because we have been insulted. ¹³ 

Our faces show our disgrace. ¹⁴ 

For foreigners have invaded

the holy rooms ¹⁵  in the Lord’s temple.’

Jeremiah 3:13

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ¹⁶ 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ¹⁷  that you have given yourself to ¹⁸  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:19

5:19 “So then, Jeremiah, ¹⁹  when your people ²⁰  ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So ²¹  you must serve foreigners ²²  in a land that does not belong to you.’

[18:14]  ¹ tn The precise translation of this verse is somewhat uncertain. Two phrases in this verse are the primary cause of discussion and the source of numerous emendations, none of which has gained consensus. The phrase which is rendered here “rocky slopes” is in Hebrew צוּר שָׂדַי (tsur saday), which would normally mean something like “rocky crag of the field” (see BDB 961 s.v. שָׂדַי 1.g). Numerous emendations have been proposed, most of which are listed in the footnotes of J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 436. The present translation has chosen to follow the proposal of several scholars that the word here is related to the Akkadian word shadu meaning mountain. The other difficulty is the word translated “cease” which in the MT is literally “be uprooted” (יִנָּתְשׁוּ, yinnatshu). The word is usually emended to read יִנָּשְׁתוּ (yinnashtu, “are dried up”) as a case of transposed letters (cf., e.g., BDB 684 s.v. נָתַשׁ Niph). This is probably a case of an error in hearing and the word נָטַשׁ (natash) which is often parallel to עָזַב (’azav), translated here “vanish,” should be read in the sense that it has in 1 Sam 10:2. Whether one reads “are plucked up” and understands it figuratively of ceasing (“are dried” or “cease”), the sense is the same. For the sense of “distant” for the word זָרִים (zarim) see 2 Kgs 19:24.

[2:25]  ² tn Heb “Refrain your feet from being bare and your throat from being dry/thirsty.”

[2:25]  ³ tn Heb “It is useless! No!” For this idiom, see Jer 18:12; NEB “No; I am desperate.”

[30:8]  ³ tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

[30:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

[30:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

[30:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.

[51:2]  ⁴ tn Or “I will send foreign people against Babylonia.” The translation follows the reading of the Greek recensions of Aquila and Symmachus and the Latin version (the Vulgate). That reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and several of the modern versions (e.g., NRSV, REB, NAB, and God’s Word). It fits better with the verb that follows it than the reading of the Hebrew text and the rest of the versions. The difference in the two readings is again only the difference in vocalization, the Hebrew text reading זָרִים (zarim) and the versions cited reading זֹרִים (zorim). If the Hebrew text is followed, there is a wordplay between the two words, “foreigners” and “winnow.” The words “like a wind blowing away chaff” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the reader what “winnow” means.

[51:2]  ⁵ tn Or “They will strip her land bare like a wind blowing away chaff.” The alternate translation would be necessary if one were to adopt the alternate reading of the first line (the reading of the Hebrew text). The explanation of “winnow” would then be necessary in the second line. The verb translated “strip…bare” means literally “to empty out” (see BDB 132 s.v. בָּקַק Polel). It has been used in 19:7 in the Qal of “making void” Judah’s plans in a wordplay on the word for “bottle.” See the study note on 19:7 for further details.

[51:2]  ⁶ tn This assumes that the particle כִּי (ki) is temporal (cf. BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.a). This is the interpretation adopted also by NRSV and G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 349. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 345) and J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 747, n. 3) interpret it as asseverative or emphatic, “Truly, indeed.” Many of the modern English versions merely ignore it. Reading it as temporal makes it unnecessary to emend the following verb as Bright and Thompson do (from הָיוּ [hayu] to יִהְיוּ [yihyu]).

[51:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the day of disaster.”

[51:51]  ⁵ sn The exiles lament the way they have been humiliated.

[51:51]  ⁶ tn Heb “we have heard an insult.”

[51:51]  ⁷ tn Heb “disgrace covers our face.”

[51:51]  ⁸ tn Or “holy places, sanctuaries.”

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ⁷ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

[3:13]  ⁸ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.

[5:19]  ⁷ tn The word, “Jeremiah,” is not in the text but the second person address in the second half of the verse is obviously to him. The word is supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[5:19]  ⁸ tn The MT reads the second masculine plural; this is probably a case of attraction to the second masculine plural pronoun in the preceding line. An alternative would be to understand a shift from speaking first to the people in the first half of the verse and then speaking to Jeremiah in the second half where the verb is second masculine singular. E.g., “When you [people] say, “Why…?” then you, Jeremiah, tell them…”

[5:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “As you left me and…, so you will….” The translation was chosen so as to break up a rather long and complex sentence.

[5:19]  ¹⁰ sn This is probably a case of deliberate ambiguity (double entendre). The adjective “foreigners” is used for both foreign people (so Jer 30:8; 51:51) and foreign gods (so Jer 2:25; 3:13). See also Jer 16:13 for the idea of having to serve other gods in the lands of exile.