Jeremiah 2:9

The Lord Charges Contemporary Israel with Spiritual Adultery

2:9 “So, once more I will state my case ¹  against you,” says the Lord.

“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. ² 

Jeremiah 2:33

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ³ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ⁴ 

Jeremiah 3:20

3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, ⁵ 

like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” ⁶ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 12:8

12:8 The people I call my own ⁷  have turned on me

like a lion ⁸  in the forest.

They have roared defiantly ⁹  at me.

So I will treat them as though I hate them. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 19:12

19:12 I, the Lord, say: ¹¹  ‘That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth.

Jeremiah 23:30

23:30 So I, the Lord, affirm ¹²  that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 25:8

25:8 “Therefore, the Lord who rules over all ¹⁴  says, ‘You have not listened to what I said. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 31:3

31:3 In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them.

He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.

That is why I have continued to be faithful to you. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 49:6

49:6 Yet in days to come

I will reverse Ammon’s ill fortune.” ¹⁷ 

says the Lord. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 50:30

50:30 So her young men will fall in her city squares.

All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”

says the Lord. ¹⁹ 

[2:9]  ¹ tn Or “bring charges against you.”

[2:9]  ² tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.

[2:33]  ³ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

[2:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

[3:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[3:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”

[12:8]  ⁷ tn See the note on the previous verse.

[12:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “have become to me like a lion.”

[12:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “have given against me with her voice.”

[12:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “so I will reject her.” The word “hate” is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to being neglected, i.e., treated as though unloved. In these contexts it does not have the same emotive connotations that a typical modern reader would associate with hate. See Gen 29:31, 33 and E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 556.

[19:12]  ⁹ tn This phrase (Heb “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24; 18:6.

[23:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:30]  ¹² tn Heb “who are stealing my words from one another.” However, context shows that it is their own word which they claim is from the Lord (cf. next verse).

[25:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “You have not listened to my words.”

[31:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “The people of Israel who survived the onslaughts of Egypt and Amalek found favor in the wilderness as they journeyed to find rest. At that time long ago the Lord manifested himself to them. He said, ‘I have…That is why I have drawn you to myself through my unfailing kindness.’” For the basis for each of these translations see the translator’s note. There is debate whether the reference here is to God’s preservation of Israel during their wandering in the Sinai desert or his promise to protect and preserve them on their return through the Arabian desert on the way back from Assyria and Babylon (see e.g., Isa 42:14-16; 43:16-21; Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8). The only finite verbs in vv. 2-3a before the introduction of the quote are perfects which can denote either a past act or a future act viewed as certain of fulfillment (the prophetic perfect; see GKC 312-13 §106.n and see examples in Jer 11:16; 13:17; 25:14; 28:4). The phrase at the beginning of v. 3 can either refer to temporal (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.b and Isa 22:11) or spatial distance (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.a[2] and Isa 5:29; 59:14). The verb in the final clause in v. 3 can refer to either the continuance of God’s love as in Ps 36:10 (cf. BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.5) or drawing someone to him in electing, caring love as in Hos 11:4 (cf. BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.1). The translation has opted for the prophetic reference to future deliverance because of the preceding context, the use of מֵרָחוֹק (merakhoq) to refer to the far off land of exile in Jer 30:10; 46:27; 51:50, and the reference to survivors from the sword being called on to remember the Lord in that far off land in 51:50.

[49:6]  ¹⁷ tn See Jer 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[49:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[50:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”