Jeremiah 2:23

2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.

I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’

Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ² 

Think about the things you have done there!

You are like a flighty, young female camel

that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ⁴ 

“This will happen ⁵  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ⁶ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 5:28-29

5:28 That is how ⁷  they have grown fat and sleek. ⁸ 

There is no limit to the evil things they do. ⁹ 

They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it.

They do not defend the rights of the poor.

5:29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 6:20

6:20 I take no delight ¹¹  when they offer up to me ¹² 

frankincense that comes from Sheba

or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.

I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.

I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ¹³ 

Jeremiah 7:6

7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ¹⁴  Stop killing innocent people ¹⁵  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ¹⁶  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 9:9

9:9 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!” ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 10:21

10:21 For our leaders ¹⁹  are stupid.

They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ²⁰ 

So they do not act wisely,

and the people they are responsible for ²¹  have all been scattered.

Jeremiah 17:16

17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. ²² 

I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. ²³ 

You know that.

You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 22:21

22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ²⁵ 

But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”

That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ²⁶ 

Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

Jeremiah 33:25

33:25 But I, the Lord, make the following promise: ²⁷  I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

Jeremiah 38:18

38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians ²⁸  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 48:33

48:33 Joy and gladness will disappear

from the fruitful land of Moab. ³⁰ 

I will stop the flow of wine from the winepresses.

No one will stomp on the grapes there and shout for joy. ³¹ 

The shouts there will be shouts of soldiers,

not the shouts of those making wine. ³² 

[2:23]  ¹ tn Heb “I have not gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for the meaning and usage of this idiom.

[2:23]  ² tn Heb “Look at your way in the valley.” The valley is an obvious reference to the Valley of Hinnom where Baal and Molech were worshiped and child sacrifice was practiced.

[2:23]  ³ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the Lord’s control.

[4:22]  ⁴ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[5:28]  ⁷ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show that this line is parallel with the preceding.

[5:28]  ⁸ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. This verb occurs only here. The lexicons generally relate it to the word translated “plate” in Song 5:14 and understand it to mean “smooth, shiny” (so BDB 799 s.v. I עֶשֶׁת) or “fat” (so HALOT 850 s.v. II עֶשֶׁת). The word in Song 5:14 more likely means “smooth” than “plate” (so TEV). So “sleek” is most likely here.

[5:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “they cross over/transgress with respect to matters of evil.”

[5:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Should I not punish…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.

[7:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[9:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Should I not punish them…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.

[10:21]  ²² tn Heb “the shepherds.”

[10:21]  ²³ tn Heb “They have not sought the Lord.”

[10:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all their flock (or “pasturage”).”

[17:16]  ²⁵ tc Heb “I have not run after you for the sake of disaster.” The translation follows the suggestion of some ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads “I have not run from being a shepherd after you.” The translation follows two Greek versions (Aquila and Symmachus) and the Syriac in reading the word “evil” or “disaster” here in place of the word “shepherd” in the Hebrew text. The issue is mainly one of vocalization. The versions mentioned are reading a form מֵרָעָה (mera’ah) instead of מֵרֹעֶה (mero’eh). There does not appear to be any clear case of a prophet being called a shepherd, especially in Jeremiah where it is invariably used of the wicked leaders/rulers of Judah, the leaders/rulers of the enemy that he brings to punish them, or the righteous ruler that he will bring in the future. Moreover, there are no cases where the preposition “after” is used with the verb “shepherd.” Parallelism also argues for the appropriateness of this reading; “disaster” parallels the “incurable day.” The thought also parallels the argument thus far. Other than 11:20; 12:3; 15:15 where he has prayed for vindication by the Lord punishing his persecutors as they deserve, he has invariably responded to the Lord’s word of disaster with laments and prayers for his people (see 4:19-21; 6:24; 8:18; 10:19-25; 14:7-9, 19-22).

[17:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the incurable day.” For the use of this word see the note on 17:9.

[17:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “that which goes out of my lip is right in front of your face.”

[22:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.

[22:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.

[33:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” See the translator’s note at the beginning of v. 20 for the style adopted here. Here the promise is in v. 26 following the contrary to fact condition in v. 25. The Hebrew text of vv. 25-26 reads: “Thus says the Lord, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night [and] the laws/statutes of heaven and earth, also I could reject the seed of Jacob and David my servant from taking from his seed as rulers over the seed of Abraham…” The syntax of the original is a little awkward because it involves the verbs “establish” and “reject” governing two objects, the first governing two similar objects “my covenant” and “the regulations” and the second governing two dissimilar objects “the seed of Jacob” and “my servant David from taking [so as not to take].” The translation has sought to remove these awkward syntactical constructions and also break down the long complex original sentence in such a way as to retain its original intent, i.e., the guarantee of the continuance of the seed of Jacob and of the rule of a line of David’s descendants over them based on the fixed order of God’s creation decrees.

[38:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”

[48:33]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from the garden land, even from the land of Moab.” Comparison with the parallel passage in Isa 16:10 and the translation of the Greek text here (which has only “the land of Moab”) suggest that the second phrase is appositional to the first.

[48:33]  ³⁸ tn Heb “no one will tread [the grapes] with shout of joy.”

[48:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “shouts will not be shouts.” The text has been expanded contextually to explain that the shouts of those treading grapes in winepresses will come to an end (v. 33a-d) and be replaced by the shouts of the soldiers who trample down the vineyards (v. 32e-f). Compare 25:30 and 51:41 for the idea.