Jeremiah 2:7

2:7 I brought you ¹  into a fertile land

so you could enjoy ²  its fruits and its rich bounty.

But when you entered my land, you defiled it; ³ 

you made the land I call my own ⁴  loathsome to me.

Jeremiah 7:3

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁵  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁶  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 7:15

7:15 And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.’” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 8:17

8:17 The Lord says, ⁹ 

“Yes indeed, ¹⁰  I am sending an enemy against you

that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away. ¹¹ 

And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.” ¹² 

Jeremiah 27:15

27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm ¹³  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you ¹⁴  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 29:7

29:7 Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.’

[2:7]  ¹ sn Note how contemporary Israel is again identified with her early ancestors. See the study note on 2:2.

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “eat.”

[2:7]  ³ sn I.e., made it ceremonially unclean. See Lev 18:19-30; Num 35:34; Deut 21:23.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my inheritance.” Or “the land [i.e., inheritance] I gave you,” reading the pronoun as indicating source rather than possession. The parallelism and the common use in Jeremiah of the term to refer to the land or people as the Lord’s (e.g., 12:7, 8, 9; 16:18; 50:11) make the possessive use more likely here.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the descendants of Ephraim.” However, Ephraim here stands (as it often does) for all the northern tribes of Israel.

[8:17]  ¹³ tn These words which are at the end of the Hebrew verse are brought forward to show at the outset the shift in speaker.

[8:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Indeed [or For] behold!” The translation is intended to convey some of the connection that is suggested by the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the verse.

[8:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I am sending against you snakes, poisonous ones which cannot be charmed.” In the light of the context literal snakes are scarcely meant. So the metaphor is turned into a simile to prevent possible confusion. For a similar metaphorical use of animals for enemies see 5:6.

[8:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they will bite you.” There does not appear to be any way to avoid the possible confusion that literal snakes are meant here except to paraphrase. Possibly one could say “And they will attack you and ‘bite’ you,” but the enclosing of the word “bite” in quotations might lead to even further confusion.

[27:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:15]  ¹⁸ sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.

[27:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”