Jeremiah 2:21

2:21 I planted you in the land

like a special vine of the very best stock.

Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine

that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes? ¹ 

Jeremiah 12:2

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ² 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ³ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 24:6

24:6 I will look after their welfare ⁵  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land ⁶  and will not uproot them. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 42:10

42:10 ‘If you will just stay ⁸  in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you. ⁹  I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.

Jeremiah 45:4

45:4 The Lord told Jeremiah, ¹⁰  “Tell Baruch, ¹¹  ‘The Lord says, “I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth. ¹² 

Jeremiah 45:2

45:2 “The Lord God of Israel has a message for you, Baruch.

Jeremiah 7:10

7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹³  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 44:2

44:2 You, by your power, ¹⁵  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ¹⁶ 

you crushed ¹⁷  the people living there ¹⁸  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 80:8

80:8 You uprooted a vine ²⁰  from Egypt;

you drove out nations and transplanted it.

Psalms 80:15

80:15 the root ²¹  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ²² 

Isaiah 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ²³  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ²⁵  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ²⁶  instead of discouragement. ²⁷ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ²⁸ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ²⁹ 

Ezekiel 17:5

17:5 He took one of the seedlings ³⁰  of the land,

placed it in a cultivated plot; ³¹ 

a shoot by abundant water,

like a willow he planted it.

[2:21]  ¹ tc Heb “I planted you as a choice vine, all of it true seed. How then have you turned into a putrid thing to me, a strange [or wild] vine.” The question expresses surprise and consternation. The translation is based on a redivision of the Hebrew words סוּרֵי הַגֶּפֶן (sure haggefen) into סוֹרִיָּה גֶּפֶן (soriyyah gefen) and the recognition of a hapax legomenon סוֹרִיָּה (soriyyah) meaning “putrid, stinking thing.” See HALOT 707 s.v. סוֹרִי.

[12:2]  ² tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ³ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[24:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will set my eyes upon them for good.” For the nuance of “good” see Jer 21:10; Amos 9:4 (in these cases the opposite of harm; see BDB 375 s.v. טוֹבָה 1).

[24:6]  ⁶ tn The words “There” and “firmly in the land” are not in the text but are implicit from the connection and the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:6]  ⁷ sn For these terms see Jer 1:10.

[42:10]  ⁸ tn The word “just” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizing here the condition rather than the verb root (see Joüon 2:423 §123.g, and compare the usage in Exod 15:26). The form looks like the infinitive absolute of the verb שׁוּב (shuv), but all the versions interpret it as though it is from יָשַׁב (yashav) which is the root of the verb that follows it. Either this is a textual error of the loss of a י (yod) or this is one of the cases that GKC 69 §19.i list as the possible loss of a weak consonant at the beginning of a word.

[42:10]  ⁹ tn Or “I will firmly plant you in the land,” or “I will establish you.” This is part of the metaphor that has been used of God (re)establishing Israel in the land. See 24:6; 31:28; 32:41.

[45:4]  ¹⁰ tn The words, “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text but are implicit in the address that follows, “Thus you shall say to him.” These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[45:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Thus you shall say to him [i.e., Baruch].”

[45:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and this is with regard to the whole earth.” The feminine pronoun הִיא (hi’) at the end refers to the verbal concepts just mentioned, i.e., this process (cf. GKC 459 §144.b and compare the use of the feminine singular suffix in the same function GKC 440-41 §135.p). The particle אֶת (’et) is here functioning to introduce emphatically the object of the action (cf. BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3.α). There is some debate whether אֶרֶץ (’erets) here applies to the whole land of Israel or to the whole earth. However, the reference to “all mankind” (Heb “all flesh”) in the next verse as well as “anywhere you go” points to “the whole earth” as the referent.

[7:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[44:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ¹⁷ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[80:8]  ²⁰ sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).

[80:15]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ²² tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[5:2]  ²³ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[61:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ²⁸ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[17:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.

[17:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “a field for seed.”