Jeremiah 2:26-27

2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,

so the people of Israel ¹  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ² 

So will their kings and officials,

their priests and their prophets.

2:27 They say to a wooden idol, ³  ‘You are my father.’

They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ⁴ 

Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ⁵ 

Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Jeremiah 2:37

2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt

with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame ⁶ 

because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful

and you will not gain any help from them. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 20:11

20:11 But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ⁸ 

Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.

They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.

Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

[2:26]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[2:26]  ² tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:27]  ³ tn Heb “wood…stone…”

[2:27]  ⁴ sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”

[2:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”

[2:37]  ⁶ tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.

[2:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Lord has rejected those you trust in; you will not prosper by/from them.”

[20:11]  ⁸ sn This line has some interesting ties with Jer 15:20-21 where Jeremiah is assured by God that he is indeed with him as he promised him when he called him (1:8, 19) and will deliver him from the clutches of wicked and violent people. The word translated here “awe-inspiring” is the same as the word “violent people” there. Jeremiah is confident that his “awe-inspiring” warrior will overcome “violent people.” The statement of confidence here is, by the way, a common element in the psalms of petition in the Psalter. The common elements of that type of psalm are all here: invocation (v. 7), lament (vv. 7-10), confession of trust/confidence in being heard (v. 11), petition (v. 12), thanksgiving or praise (v. 13). For some examples of this type of psalm see Pss 3, 7, 26.