Jeremiah 23:23

23:23 Do you people think ¹  that I am some local deity

and not the transcendent God?” ²  the Lord asks. ³ 

Jeremiah 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ⁴ 

Sound the trumpet ⁵  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ⁶  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ⁷ 

[23:23]  ¹ tn The words “Do you people think” at the beginning of this verse and “Do you really think” at the beginning of the next verse are not in the text but are a way of trying to convey the nature of the rhetorical questions which expect a negative answer. They are also a way of trying to show that the verses are still connected with the preceding discussion addressed to the people (cf. 23:16, 20).

[23:23]  ² tn Heb “Am I a god nearby and not a god far off?” The question is sometimes translated as though there is an alternative being given in v. 23, one that covers both the ideas of immanence and transcendence (i.e., “Am I only a god nearby and not also a god far off?”). However, the hey interrogative (הַ) at the beginning of this verse and the particle (אִם, ’im) at the beginning of the next show that the linkage is between the question in v. 23 and that in v. 24a. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.d both questions in this case expect a negative answer.

[23:23]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

[6:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.