Jeremiah 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ¹ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ² 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Jeremiah 2:22

2:22 You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent.

You can use as much soap as you want.

But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” ³ 

says the Lord God. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 23:3

23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ⁵  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ⁶  They will greatly increase in number.

Jeremiah 46:11

46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ⁷ 

you dear poor people of Egypt. ⁸ 

But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ⁹ 

there will be no healing for you.

Jeremiah 46:16

46:16 I will make many stumble. ¹⁰ 

They will fall over one another in their hurry to flee. ¹¹ 

They will say, ‘Get up!

Let’s go back to our own people.

Let’s go back to our homelands

because the enemy is coming to destroy us.’ ¹² 

Jeremiah 3:16

3:16 In those days, your population will greatly increase ¹³  in the land. At that time,” says the Lord, “people will no longer talk about having the ark ¹⁴  that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. ¹⁵  They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more! ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 29:6

29:6 Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and allow your daughters get married so that they too can have sons and daughters. Grow in number; do not dwindle away.

Jeremiah 33:22

33:22 I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.’” ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 40:12

40:12 So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 42:2

42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request ¹⁹  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ²⁰  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ²¹ 

[30:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

[30:19]  ² sn Compare Jer 29:6.

[2:22]  ³ tn Heb “Even if you wash with natron/lye, and use much soap, your sin is a stain before me.”

[2:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of this title see the study notes on 1:6.

[23:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my sheep.”

[23:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “their fold.”

[46:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

[46:11]  ⁸ sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.

[46:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”

[46:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “he multiplied the one stumbling.” For the first person reference see the preceding translator’s note.

[46:16]  ¹⁰ tc The words “in their hurry to flee” are not in the text but appear to be necessary to clarify the point that the stumbling and falling here is not the same as that in vv. 6, 12 where they occur in the context of defeat and destruction. Reference here appears to be to the mercenary soldiers who in their hurried flight to escape stumble over one another and fall. This is fairly clear from the literal translation “he multiplies the stumbling one. Also [= and] a man falls against a man and they say [probably = “saying”; an epexegetical use of the vav (ו) consecutive (IBHS 551 §33.2.2a, and see Exod 2:10 as a parallel)] ‘Get up! Let’s go…’” A reference to the flight of the mercenaries is also seen in v. 21. Many of the modern commentaries and a few of the modern English versions follow the Greek text and read vv. 15a-16 very differently. The Greek reads “Why has Apis fled from you? Your choice calf [i.e., Apis] has not remained. For the Lord has paralyzed him. And your multitudes have fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbor…” (reading רֻבְּךָ כָּשַׁל גַּם־נָפַל וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ instead of כּוֹשֵׁל הִרְבָּה גַּם־נָפַל אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ). One would expect אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ (’ish ’el-re’ehu) to go with וַיֹּאמְרוּ (vayyo’mÿru) because it is idiomatic in this expression (cf., e.g., Gen 11:3; Judg 6:29). However, אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ (’ish ’el-re’ehu) is also found with singular verbs as here in Exod 22:9; 33:11; 1 Sam 10:11. There is no doubt that the Hebrew text is the more difficult and thus probably original. The reading of the Greek version is not supported by any other text or version and looks like an attempt to smooth out a somewhat awkward Hebrew original.

[46:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to our native lands from before the sword of the oppressor.” The compound preposition “from before” is regularly used in a causal sense (see BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֶה 6.a, b, c). The “sword” is again interpreted as a figure for the destructive power of an enemy army.

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you will become numerous and fruitful.”

[3:16]  ¹² tn Or “chest.”

[3:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ark of the covenant.” It is called this because it contained the tables of the law which in abbreviated form constituted their covenant obligations to the Lord, cf. Exod 31:18; 32:15; 34:29.

[3:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Nor will another one be made”; Heb “one will not do/make [it?] again.”

[33:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “Just as the stars in the sky cannot be numbered or the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will greatly increase [or multiply] the seed of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The word “seed of” does not carry over to the “the Levites” as a noun governing two genitives because “the Levites” has the accusative marker in front of it. The sentence has been broken down in conformity with contemporary English style.

[40:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

[42:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.

[42:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”

[42:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.