Jeremiah 18:17

18:17 I will scatter them before their enemies

like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind.

I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them ¹ 

when disaster strikes them.”

Jeremiah 49:32

49:32 Their camels will be taken as plunder.

Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.

I will scatter to the four winds

those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. ² 

I will bring disaster against them

from every direction,” says the Lord. ³ 

Jeremiah 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ⁴ 

will prove to be like pampered, ⁵  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ⁶  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

[18:17]  ¹ tc Heb “I will show them [my] back and not [my] face.” This reading follows the suggestion of some of the versions and some of the Masoretes. The MT reads “I will look on their back and not on their faces.”

[49:32]  ² tn See the translator’s note at Jer 9:26 and compare the usage in 9:26 and 25:23.

[49:32]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[46:21]  ³ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

[46:21]  ⁴ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

[46:21]  ⁵ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.