Jeremiah 2:8

2:8 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 11:16

11:16 I, the Lord, once called ⁷  you a thriving olive tree,

one that produced beautiful fruit.

But I will set you ⁸  on fire,

fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. ⁹ 

Then all your branches will be good for nothing. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 13:10

13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ¹¹  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ¹²  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ¹³  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

Jeremiah 23:16

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ¹⁴  says to the people of Jerusalem: ¹⁵ 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ¹⁶ 

[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]  ⁵ tn Heb “by Baal.”

[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).

[11:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Lord once called you….” This is another example of the rapid shift in person that is common to Hebrew style which is not common in English and could lead to confusion for some readers. Here and in the verses that follow the person has been shifted to first person for consistency in English.

[11:16]  ⁸ tn The verb form used here is another example of a verb expressing that the action is as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

[11:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “At the sound of a mighty roar he will set fire to it.” For the shift from third person “he” to the first person “I” see the preceding note. The Hebrew use of the pronouns in vv. 16-17 for the olive tree and the people that it represents is likely to cause confusion if retained. In v. 16 the people are “you” and the olive tree is “it.” The people are again “you” in v. 17 but part of the metaphor is carried over, i.e., “he ‘planted’ you.” It creates less confusion in the flow of the passage if the metaphorical identification is carried out throughout by addressing the people/plant as “you.”

[11:16]  ¹⁰ tn The verb here has most commonly been derived from a root meaning “to be broken” (cf. BDB 949 s.v. II רָעַע) which fits poorly with the metaphor of setting the plant on fire. Another common option is to emend it to a verb meaning “to be burned up” (בָּעַר, ba’ar). However, it is better to follow the lead of the Greek version which translates “be good for nothing” (ἠχρειώθησαν, hcreiwqhsan) and derive the verb from רָעַע (ra’a’) meaning “be bad/evil” (cf. BDB 949 and compare the nuance of the adjective from this verb in BDB 948 s.v. רַע 5).

[13:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “to listen to my words.”

[13:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[13:10]  ¹⁵ tn The structure of this verse is a little unusual. It consists of a subject, “this wicked people” qualified by several “which” clauses preceding a conjunction and a form which would normally be taken as a third person imperative (a Hebrew jussive; וִיהִי, vihi). This construction, called casus pendens by Hebrew grammarians, lays focus on the subject, here calling attention to the nature of Israel’s corruption which makes it rotten and useless to God. See GKC 458 §143.d for other examples of this construction.

[23:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:16]  ²⁰ tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”