Jeremiah 2:30

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ¹ 

Jeremiah 6:29

6:29 The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely.

But there is too much dross to be removed. ² 

The process of refining them has proved useless. ³ 

The wicked have not been purged.

Jeremiah 18:15

18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me

and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!

This makes them stumble along in the way they live

and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ⁴ 

They have left them to walk in bypaths,

in roads that are not smooth and level. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 46:11

46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ⁶ 

you dear poor people of Egypt. ⁷ 

But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ⁸ 

there will be no healing for you.

Jeremiah 4:30

4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, ⁹ 

you accomplish nothing ¹⁰  by wearing a beautiful dress, ¹¹ 

decking yourself out in jewels of gold,

and putting on eye shadow! ¹² 

You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.

Your lovers spurn you.

They want to kill you. ¹³ 

[2:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

[6:29]  ² tn Heb “The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire.” The translation tries to clarify a metaphor involving ancient metallurgy. In the ancient refining process lead was added as a flux to remove impurities from silver ore in the process of oxidizing the lead. Jeremiah says that the lead has been used up and the impurities have not been removed. The translation is based on the recognition of an otherwise unused verb root meaning “blow” (נָחַר [nakhar]; cf. BDB 1123 s.v. I חָרַר and HALOT 651 s.v. נָחַר) and the Masoretes’ suggestion that the consonants מאשׁתם be read מֵאֵשׁ תַּם (me’esh tam) rather than as מֵאֶשָּׁתָם (me’eshatam, “from their fire”) from an otherwise unattested noun אֶשָּׁה (’eshah).

[6:29]  ³ tn Heb “The refiner refines them in vain.”

[18:15]  ³ sn Heb “the ancient path.” This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another “old way” but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).

[18:15]  ⁴ sn Heb “ways that are not built up.” This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms “way,” “by-paths,” “roads” are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.

[46:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

[46:11]  ⁵ sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.

[46:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”

[4:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.

[4:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.

[4:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”

[4:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.

[4:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “they seek your life.”