Jeremiah 23:22

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, ¹ 

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

Jeremiah 24:2

24:2 One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. ²  The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten.

Jeremiah 26:3

26:3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ³  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ⁴  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:4

4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin

as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,

you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord

and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, ⁶ 

people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

If you do not, ⁷  my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you

that no one will be able to extinguish.

That will happen because of the evil you have done.”

Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ⁸ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ⁹  are judged fairly. ¹⁰ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ¹¹  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ¹² 

Jeremiah 23:2

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ¹³  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ¹⁴  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 24:3

24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

Jeremiah 24:8

24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ¹⁶  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 25:5

25:5 He said through them, ¹⁸  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ¹⁹  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 29:17

29:17 The Lord who rules over all ²¹  says, ‘I will bring war, ²²  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ²³  they cannot be eaten.

Jeremiah 44:22

44:22 Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ²⁴ 

[23:22]  ¹ tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.

[24:2]  ² sn See Isa 28:4; Hos 9:10.

[26:3]  ³ tn Heb “will turn from his wicked way.”

[26:3]  ⁴ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[26:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of their deeds.”

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your heart.” The translation is again an attempt to bring out the meaning of a metaphor. The mention of the “foreskin of the heart” shows that the passage is obviously metaphorical and involves heart attitude, not an external rite.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “lest.”

[21:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

[21:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

[21:12]  ⁷ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

[21:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[21:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”

[23:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

[23:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

[23:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[24:8]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad] surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem which remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6;Gen 42:30.

[25:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[29:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[29:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sword.”

[29:17]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of this word is somewhat uncertain. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the noun “horrible thing” (translated “something shocking”) in Jer 5:30; 23:14 and defines it as “horrid, disgusting.” HALOT 1495 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the same noun and define it as “rotten; corrupt.” That nuance is accepted here.

[44:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And/Then the Lord could no longer endure because of the evil of your deeds [and] because of the detestable things that you did and [or so] your land became a desolation and a waste and an occasion of a curse without inhabitant as this day.” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style, but an attempt has been made to preserve the causal and consequential connections.