Jeremiah 3:20

3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, ¹ 

like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” ² 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:11

5:11 For the nations of Israel and Judah ³ 

have been very unfaithful to me,”

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:11

3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 9:2

9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert

where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. ⁵ 

Then I would desert my people

and walk away from them

because they are all unfaithful to God,

a congregation ⁶  of people that has been disloyal to him. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ⁸ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ⁹ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁰ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Jeremiah 3:8

3:8 She also saw ¹¹  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ¹²  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ¹³  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 12:6

12:6 As a matter of fact, ¹⁵  even your own brothers

and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.

Even they have plotted to do away with you. ¹⁶ 

So do not trust them even when they say kind things ¹⁷  to you.

[3:20]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[3:20]  ² tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”

[5:11]  ³ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[3:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”

[9:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”

[9:2]  ⁸ tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.

[9:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.

[12:1]  ⁹ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[3:8]  ¹¹ tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

[3:8]  ¹² tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

[3:8]  ¹³ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

[3:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[12:6]  ¹³ tn This is an attempt to give some contextual sense to the particle “for, indeed” (כִּי, ki).

[12:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they have called after you fully”; or “have lifted up loud voices against you.” The word “against” does not seem quite adequate for the preposition “after.” The preposition “against” would be Hebrew עַל (’al). The idea appears to be that they are chasing after him, raising their voices along with those of the conspirators to have him killed.

[12:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “good things.” See BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 2 for this nuance and compare Prov 12:25 for usage.