Jeremiah 2:32

2:32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?

Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?

But my people have forgotten me

for more days than can even be counted.

Jeremiah 4:23

4:23 “I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ² 

I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Jeremiah 5:13

5:13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind. ³ 

The Lord has not spoken through them. ⁴ 

So, let what they say happen to them.’”

Jeremiah 6:14

6:14 They offer only superficial help

for the harm my people have suffered. ⁵ 

They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’

But everything is not all right! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 7:17

7:17 Do you see ⁷  what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ⁸ 

Jeremiah 7:33

7:33 Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. ⁹  There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

Jeremiah 8:11

8:11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people ¹⁰  have suffered. ¹¹ 

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right! ¹² 

Jeremiah 13:19

13:19 The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight. ¹³ 

No one will be able to go in or out of them. ¹⁴ 

All Judah will be carried off into exile.

They will be completely carried off into exile.’” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 14:6

14:6 Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops

and pant for breath like jackals.

Their eyes are strained looking for food,

because there is none to be found.” ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 30:5

30:5 Yes, ¹⁷  here is what he says:

“You hear cries of panic and of terror;

there is no peace in sight. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 38:5

38:5 King Zedekiah said to them, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. ¹⁹  For I cannot do anything to stop you.” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ²¹ 

Jeremiah 48:9

48:9 Set up a gravestone for Moab,

for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ²² 

Its cities will be laid waste

and become uninhabited.”

Jeremiah 50:32

50:32 You will stumble and fall, you proud city;

no one will help you get up.

I will set fire to your towns;

it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ²³ 

Jeremiah 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ²⁴ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ²⁵ 

[4:23]  ¹ tn Heb “I looked at the land and behold...” This indicates the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future condition of the land of Israel.

[4:23]  ² tn Heb “formless and empty.” This is a case of hendiadys (two nouns joined by “and” both describe the same thing): one noun retains its full nominal force, the other functions as an adjective. The words תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) allude to Gen 1:2, hyperbolically picturing a reversal of creation and return to the original precreation chaos.

[5:13]  ¹ tn Heb “will be wind.”

[5:13]  ² tc Heb “the word is not in them.” The MT has a highly unusual form here, the Piel perfect with the definite article (הַדִּבֵּר, haddibber). It is undoubtedly best to read with the LXX (Greek version) and one Hebrew ms the article on the noun (הַדָּבָר, haddavar).

[6:14]  ¹ tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”

[6:14]  ² tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[7:17]  ¹ tn Or “Just look at…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[7:17]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:33]  ¹ tn Heb “Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

[8:11]  ¹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:11]  ² tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”

[8:11]  ³ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

[13:19]  ¹ tn Heb “The towns of the Negev will be shut.”

[13:19]  ² tn Heb “There is no one to open them.” The translation is based on the parallel in Josh 6:1 where the very expression in the translation is used. Opening the city would have permitted entrance (of relief forces) as well as exit (of fugitives).

[13:19]  ³ sn The statements are poetic exaggerations (hyperbole), as most commentaries note. Even in the exile of 587 b.c. not “all” of the people of Jerusalem or of Judah were exiled. Cf. the context of 2 Kgs 24:14-16 again.

[14:6]  ¹ tn Heb “their eyes are strained because there is no verdure.”

[30:5]  ¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here as loosely causal or epexegetical of the preceding introduction. For this usage cf. BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c. This nuance borders on that of the intensive use of כִּי. See the discussion in BDB 472 s.v. כִּי note and כִּי 1.e.

[30:5]  ² tn Heb “We have heard the sound of panic and of fear, and there is no peace.” It is generally agreed that the person of the verb presupposes that this is an unintroduced quote of the people.

[38:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Behold, he is in your hands [= power/control].”

[38:5]  ² tn Heb “For the king cannot do a thing with/against you.” The personal pronoun “I” is substituted in the English translation due to differences in style; Hebrew style often uses the third person or the title in speaking of oneself but English rarely if ever does. Compare the common paraphrasis of “your servant” for “I” in Hebrew (cf. BDB 714 s.v. עֶבֶד 6 and usage in 1 Sam 20:7, 8) and compare the usage in Pss 63:11 (63:12 HT); 61:6 (61:7 HT) where the king is praying for himself. For the meaning of יָכֹל (yakhol) as “to be able to do anything,” see BDB 407 s.v. יָכֹל 1.g.

[44:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.

[48:9]  ¹ tn Or “Scatter salt over Moab for it will certainly be laid in ruins.” The meaning of these two lines is very uncertain. The Hebrew of these two lines presents several difficulties. It reads תְּנוּ־צִיץ לְמוֹאָב נָצֹא תֵּצֵא (tÿnu-tsits lÿmo’av natso’ tetse’). Of the five words two are extremely problematic and the meaning of the second affects also the meaning of the last word which normally means “go out.” The word צִיץ (tsits) regularly refers to a blossom or flower or the diadem on the front of Aaron’s mitre. BDB 851 s.v. II צִיץ gives a nuance “wings (coll)” based on the interpretation of Abu Walid and some medieval Jewish interpreters who related it to an Aramaic root. But BDB says that meaning is dubious and refers to the Greek which reads σημεῖα (shmeia, “sign” or “sign post”). Along with KBL 802 s.v. I צִיץ and HALOT 959 s.v. II צִיץ, BDB suggests that the Greek presupposes the word צִיּוּן (tsiyyun) which refers to a road marker (Jer 31:21) or a gravestone (2 Kgs 23:17). That is the meaning followed here. Several modern commentaries and English versions have followed a proposal by W. Moran that the word is related to a Ugaritic word meaning salt (cf., e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 320). However, HALOT 959 s.v. II צִיץ questions the validity of this on philological grounds saying that the meaning of salt does not really fit the Ugaritic either. The present translation follows the suggestions of the lexicons here and reads the word as though the Greek supported the meaning “gravestone.” The other difficulty is with the word נָצֹא (natso’), which looks like a Qal infinitive absolute of an otherwise unattested root which BDB s.v. נָצָא says is defined in Gesenius’ Thesaurus as “fly.” However, see the meaning and the construction of an infinitive absolute of one root with that of another as highly improbable. Hence, most modern lexicons either emend the forms to read נָצֹה תִּצֶּה (natsoh titseh) from the root נָצָה (natsah) meaning “to fall into ruins” (so KBL 629 s.v. נָצָה Qal, and see among others J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 700, n. 10, who notes that final א [aleph] and final ה [hey] are often confused; see the discussion and examples in GKC 216-17 §75.nn-rr). This is the option that this translation as well as a number of modern ones have taken. A second option is to see נָצֹא (natso’) as an error for יָצֹא (yatso’) and read the text in the sense of “she will certainly surrender,” a meaning that the verb יָצָא (yatsa’) has in 1 Sam 11:3; Isa 36:6. The best discussion of this option as well as a discussion on the problem of reading צִיץ (tsits) as salt is found in G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 313-14.

[50:32]  ¹ tn Heb “And the proud one will fall and there will be no one to help him up. I will start a fire in his towns and it will consume all that surround him.” The personification continues but now the stance is indirect (third person) rather than direct (second person). It is easier for the modern reader who is not accustomed to such sudden shifts if the second person is maintained. The personification of the city (or nation) as masculine is a little unusual; normally cities and nations are personified as feminine, as daughters or mothers.

[51:37]  ¹ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ² tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”