Jeremiah 20:16

20:16 May that man be like the cities ¹ 

that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy.

May he hear a cry of distress in the morning

and a battle cry at noon.

Jeremiah 8:6

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ² 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ³ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ⁴ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

[20:16]  ¹ sn The cities alluded to are Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the Jordan plain which had become proverbial for their wickedness and for the destruction that the Lord brought on them because of it. See Isa 1:9-10; 13:19; Jer 23:14; 49:18.

[8:6]  ² tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ³ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”