Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:8
Context2:8 Your priests 1 did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ 2
Those responsible for teaching my law 3 did not really know me. 4
Your rulers rebelled against me.
Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. 5
They all worshiped idols that could not help them. 6
Jeremiah 11:13
Context11:13 This is in spite of the fact that 7 the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns 8 and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ 9
Jeremiah 11:17
Context11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, 10 planted you in the land, 11
I now decree that disaster will come on you 12
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” 13
[2:8] 1 tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”
[2:8] 2 sn See the study note on 2:6.
[2:8] 3 tn Heb “those who handle my law.”
[2:8] 4 tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.
[2:8] 6 tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (ya’al).
[11:13] 7 tn This is again an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) contextually. The nuance is a little hard to establish due to the nature of the rhetoric of the passage which utilizes the figure of apostrophe where the
[11:13] 9 tn Heb “For [or Indeed] the number of your [sing.] cities are your [sing.] gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [or perhaps (your) streets, Jerusalem] you [plur.] have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to sacrifice to Baal.” This passage involves a figure of speech where the speaker turns from describing something about someone to addressing him/her directly (a figure called apostrophe). This figure is not common in contemporary English literature or conversation and translating literally would lead to confusion on the part of some readers. Hence, the translation retains the third person in keeping with the rest of the context. The shift from singular “your cities” to plural “you have set up” is interpreted contextually to refer to a shift in addressing Judah to addressing the citizens of Jerusalem whose streets are being talked about. The appositional clause, “altars to sacrifice to Baal” has been collapsed with the preceding clause to better identify what the shameful thing is and to eliminate a complex construction. The length of this sentence runs contrary to the usual practice of breaking up long complex sentences in Hebrew into shorter equivalent ones in English. However, breaking up this sentence and possibly losing the connecting link with the preceding used to introduce it might lead to misunderstanding.
[11:17] 13 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[11:17] 14 tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.
[11:17] 15 tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term
[11:17] 16 tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
