Jeremiah 3:18

3:18 At that time ¹  the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. ²  Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. ” ³ 

Jeremiah 3:25

3:25 Let us acknowledge ⁴  our shame.

Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. ⁵ 

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From earliest times to this very day

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

Jeremiah 4:9

4:9 “When this happens,” ⁶  says the Lord,

“the king and his officials will lose their courage.

The priests will be struck with horror,

and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment.”

Jeremiah 16:13

16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”

Jeremiah 17:16

17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. ⁷ 

I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. ⁸ 

You know that.

You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 17:18

17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.

Do not let me be disgraced.

May they be dismayed.

Do not let me be dismayed.

Bring days of disaster on them.

Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 23:7

23:7 “So I, the Lord, say: ¹¹  ‘A new time will certainly come. ¹²  People now affirm their oaths with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.”

Jeremiah 25:34

25:34 Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers!

Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! ¹³ 

The time for you to be slaughtered has come.

You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 30:8

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹⁵ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁶ 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ¹⁷ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ¹⁸ 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

Jeremiah 44:10

44:10 To this day your people ¹⁹  have shown no contrition! They have not revered me nor followed the laws and statutes I commanded ²⁰  you and your ancestors.’

Jeremiah 46:21

46:21 Even her mercenaries ²¹ 

will prove to be like pampered, ²²  well-fed calves.

For they too will turn and run away.

They will not stand their ground

when ²³  the time for them to be destroyed comes,

the time for them to be punished.

Jeremiah 50:20

50:20 When that time comes,

no guilt will be found in Israel.

No sin will be found in Judah. ²⁴ 

For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. ²⁵ 

I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 52:11-12

52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ²⁷  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

52:12 On the tenth ²⁸  day of the fifth month, ²⁹  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ³⁰  who served ³¹  the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

[3:18]  ¹ tn Heb “In those days.”

[3:18]  ² tn Heb “the house of Judah will walk together with the house of Israel.”

[3:18]  ³ tn Heb “the land that I gave your [fore]fathers as an inheritance.”

[3:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let us lie down in….”

[3:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let us be covered with disgrace.”

[4:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “In that day.”

[17:16]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “I have not run after you for the sake of disaster.” The translation follows the suggestion of some ancient versions. The Hebrew text reads “I have not run from being a shepherd after you.” The translation follows two Greek versions (Aquila and Symmachus) and the Syriac in reading the word “evil” or “disaster” here in place of the word “shepherd” in the Hebrew text. The issue is mainly one of vocalization. The versions mentioned are reading a form מֵרָעָה (mera’ah) instead of מֵרֹעֶה (mero’eh). There does not appear to be any clear case of a prophet being called a shepherd, especially in Jeremiah where it is invariably used of the wicked leaders/rulers of Judah, the leaders/rulers of the enemy that he brings to punish them, or the righteous ruler that he will bring in the future. Moreover, there are no cases where the preposition “after” is used with the verb “shepherd.” Parallelism also argues for the appropriateness of this reading; “disaster” parallels the “incurable day.” The thought also parallels the argument thus far. Other than 11:20; 12:3; 15:15 where he has prayed for vindication by the Lord punishing his persecutors as they deserve, he has invariably responded to the Lord’s word of disaster with laments and prayers for his people (see 4:19-21; 6:24; 8:18; 10:19-25; 14:7-9, 19-22).

[17:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the incurable day.” For the use of this word see the note on 17:9.

[17:16]  ¹² tn Heb “that which goes out of my lip is right in front of your face.”

[17:18]  ¹³ tn Or “complete destruction.” See the translator’s note on 16:18.

[23:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[25:34]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Wail and cry out, you shepherds. Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.” The terms have been reversed to explain the figure.

[25:34]  ²⁰ tn The meaning of this line is debated. The Greek version does not have the words “lie scattered” and it reads the words “like broken pieces of fine pottery” (Heb “like choice vessels”; כִּכְלִי חֶמְדָּה, kikhli khemdah) as “like choice rams” (כְּאֵילֵי חֶמְדָּה, kÿ’ele khemdah); i.e., “the days have been completed for you to be slaughtered and you will fall like choice rams.” The reading of the Greek version fits the context better, but is probably secondary for that very reason. The word translated “lie scattered” (תְּפוֹצָה, tÿfotsah) occurs nowhere else and the switch to the simile of “choice vessels” is rather abrupt. However, this section has been characterized by switching metaphors. The key to the interpretation and translation here is the consequential nature of the verbal actions involved. “Fall” does not merely refer to the action but the effect, i.e., “lie fallen” (cf. BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל 7 and compare Judg 3:25; 1 Sam 31:8). Though the noun translated “lie scattered” does not occur elsewhere, the verb does. It is quite commonly used of dispersing people and that has led many to see that as the reference here. The word, however, can be used of scattering other things like seed (Isa 28:25), arrows (2 Sam 22:15; metaphorical for lightning), etc. Here it follows “slaughtered” and refers to their dead bodies. The simile (Heb “ fallen like choice vessels”) is elliptical, referring to “broken pieces” of choice vessels. In this sense the simile fits in perfectly with v. 33.

[30:8]  ²² tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

[30:8]  ²³ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

[30:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

[30:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.

[44:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they” but as H. Freedman (Jeremiah [SoBB], 284) notes the third person is used here to include the people just referred to as well as the current addressees. Hence “your people” or “the people of Judah.” It is possible that the third person again reflects the rhetorical distancing that was referred to earlier in 35:16 (see the translator’s note there for explanation) in which case one might translate “you have shown,” and “you have not revered.”

[44:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to set before.” According to BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.b(g) this refers to “propounding to someone for acceptance or choice.” This is clearly the usage in Deut 30:15, 19; Jer 21:8 and is likely the case here. However, to translate literally would not be good English idiom and “proposed to” might not be correctly understood, so the basic translation of נָתַן (natan) has been used here.

[46:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “her hirelings in her midst.”

[46:21]  ²⁹ tn The word “pampered” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to explain the probable meaning of the simile. The mercenaries were well cared for like stall-fed calves, but in the face of the danger they will prove no help because they will turn and run away without standing their ground. Some see the point of the simile to be that they too are fattened for slaughter. However, the next two lines do not fit that interpretation too well.

[46:21]  ³⁰ tn The temporal use of the particle כִּי (ki; BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 2.a) seems more appropriate to the context than the causal use.

[50:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “In those days and at that time, oracle of the Lord, the iniquity [or guilt] of Israel will be sought but there will be none and the sins of Judah but they will not be found.” The passive construction “will be sought” raises the question of who is doing the seeking which is not really the main point. The translation has avoided this question by simply referring to the result which is the main point.

[50:20]  ³² sn Compare Jer 31:34 and 33:8.

[50:20]  ³³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” In this case it is necessary to place this in the first person because this is already in a quote whose speaker is identified as the Lord (v. 18).

[52:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[52:12]  ³⁷ tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”

[52:12]  ³⁸ sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

[52:12]  ³⁹ tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

[52:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “stood before.”