Jeremiah 2:13

2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water, ¹ 

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Deuteronomy 4:25-28

Threat and Blessing following Covenant Disobedience

4:25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, ²  if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind ³  and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, ⁴  4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you ⁵  today that you will surely and swiftly be removed ⁶  from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be ⁷  annihilated. 4:27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you ⁸  among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

Deuteronomy 28:47-48

The Curse of Military Siege

28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ⁹  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ¹⁰  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

Lamentations 5:8

5:8 Slaves ¹¹  rule over us;

there is no one to rescue us from their power. ¹² 

[2:13]  ¹ tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the Lord, the source of life, health, and vitality, with useless idols that cannot do anything.

[4:25]  ² tn Heb “have grown old in the land,” i.e., been there for a long time.

[4:25]  ³ tn Heb “a form of anything.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV “an idol.”

[4:25]  ⁴ tn The infinitive construct is understood here as indicating the result, not the intention, of their actions.

[4:26]  ⁵ sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the Lord’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the Lord here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.

[4:26]  ⁶ tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”

[4:26]  ⁷ tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.

[4:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will be left men (i.e., few) of number.”

[28:48]  ⁹ tn Heb “lack of everything.”

[28:48]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “slaves.” While indicating that social structures are awry, the expression “slaves rule over us” might be an idiom for “tyrants rule over us.” This might find its counterpart in the gnomic truth that the most ruthless rulers are made of former slaves: “Under three things the earth quakes, under four it cannot bear up: under a slave when he becomes king” (Prov 30:21-22a).

[5:8]  ¹² tn Heb “hand.”