Jeremiah 32:38

32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹ 

Jeremiah 30:20

30:20 The descendants of Jacob will enjoy their former privileges.

Their community will be reestablished in my favor ² 

and I will punish all who try to oppress them.

Jeremiah 48:28

48:28 Leave your towns, you inhabitants of Moab.

Go and live in the cliffs.

Be like a dove that makes its nest

high on the sides of a ravine. ³ 

Jeremiah 50:8

50:8 “People of Judah, ⁴  get out of Babylon quickly!

Leave the land of Babylonia! ⁵ 

Be the first to depart! ⁶ 

Be like the male goats that lead the herd.

Jeremiah 30:16

30:16 But ⁷  all who destroyed you will be destroyed.

All your enemies will go into exile.

Those who plundered you will be plundered.

I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 49:32

49:32 Their camels will be taken as plunder.

Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.

I will scatter to the four winds

those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. ⁹ 

I will bring disaster against them

from every direction,” says the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 50:37

50:37 Destructive forces will come against her horses and her ¹¹  chariots.

Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; ¹² 

they will be as frightened as women! ¹³ 

Destructive forces will come against her treasures;

they will be taken away as plunder!

Jeremiah 18:23

18:23 But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not pardon their crimes!

Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ¹⁴ 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 19:13

19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ¹⁶  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ¹⁷  and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

Jeremiah 24:7

24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I ¹⁸  am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly ¹⁹  return to me.’

Jeremiah 25:33

25:33 Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time

will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.

They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ²⁰ 

Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

Jeremiah 39:16

39:16 “Go ²¹  and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it. ²²  When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it. ²³ 

Jeremiah 47:2

47:2 “Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. ²⁴ 

They will be like an overflowing stream.

They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.

They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.

People will cry out in alarm.

Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.

Jeremiah 44:12

44:12 I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go ²⁵  and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle ²⁶  or perish from starvation. People of every class ²⁷  will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ²⁸ 

[32:38]  ¹ sn The covenant formula setting forth the basic relationship is reinstituted along with a new covenant (v. 40). See also 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and the study note on 30:22.

[30:20]  ² tn Heb “his children will be as in former times and his congregation/community will be established before me.” “His children” refers to “Jacob” who has been referred to in v. 18 in the phrase “I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob.” “His children” are thus the restored exiles. Some commentaries see the reference here to the restoration of numbers in accordance with the previous verse. However, the last line of this verse and the reference to the ruler in the following verse suggests rather restoration of the religious and political institutions to their former state. For the use of the word translated “community” (עֵדָה, ’edah) to refer to a political congregation as well as its normal use to refer to a religious one see 1 Kgs 12:20. For the idea of “in my favor” (i.e., under the eye and regard of) for the Hebrew phrase used here (לְפָנַי, lÿfanay) see BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a(b).

[48:28]  ³ tn Heb “in the sides of the mouth of a pit/chasm.” The translation follows the suggestion of J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 321. The point of the simile is inaccessibility.

[50:8]  ⁴ tn The words “People of Judah” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the subject of the address.

[50:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:8]  ⁶ tn The words “Be the first to leave” are not in the text but spell out the significance of the simile that follows. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[30:16]  ⁵ tn For the translation of this particle, which is normally translated “therefore” and often introduces an announcement of judgment, compare the usage at Jer 16:14 and the translator’s note there. Here as there it introduces a contrast, a rather unexpected announcement of salvation. For a similar use see also Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT). Recognition of this usage makes the proposed emendation of BHS of לָכֵן כָּל (lakhen kol) to וְכָל (vÿkhol) unnecessary.

[30:16]  ⁶ sn With the exception of the second line there is a definite attempt at wordplay in each line to underline the principle of lex talionis on a national and political level. This principle has already been appealed to in the case of the end of Babylonian sovereignty in 25:14; 27:7.

[49:32]  ⁶ tn See the translator’s note at Jer 9:26 and compare the usage in 9:26 and 25:23.

[49:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[50:37]  ⁷ tn Hebrew has “his” in both cases here whereas the rest of the possessive pronouns throughout vv. 35-37 are “her.” There is no explanation for this switch unless the third masculine singular refers as a distributive singular to the soldiers mentioned in the preceding verse (cf. GKC 464 §145.l). This is probably the case here, but to refer to “their horses and their chariots” in the midst of all the “her…” might create more confusion than what it is worth to be that pedantic.

[50:37]  ⁸ tn Or “in the country,” or “in her armies”; Heb “in her midst.”

[50:37]  ⁹ tn Heb “A sword against his horses and his chariots and against all the mixed company [or mixed multitude] in her midst and they will become like women.” The sentence had to be split up because it is too long and the continuation of the second half with its consequential statement would not fit together with the first half very well. Hence the subject and verb have been repeated. The Hebrew word translated “foreign troops” (עֶרֶב, ’erev) is the same word that is used in 25:20 to refer to the foreign peoples living in Egypt and in Exod 12:38 for the foreign people that accompanied Israel out of Egypt. Here the word is translated contextually to refer to foreign mercenaries, an identification that most of the commentaries and many of the modern English versions accept (see, e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 355; NRSV; NIV). The significance of the simile “they will become like women” has been spelled out for the sake of clarity.

[18:23]  ⁸ sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[18:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[19:13]  ⁹ tn The words “by dead bodies” is not in the text but is implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the host of heaven.”

[24:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord.” For the use of “heart” here referring to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will” see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב 4 and compare the usage in 2 Chr 12:14. For the use of “know” to mean “acknowledge” see BDB 384 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 39:4. For the construction “know ‘someone’ that he…” = “know that ‘someone’…” see GKC 365 §117.h and compare the usage in 2 Sam 3:25.

[24:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with all their heart.”

[25:33]  ¹¹ sn The intent here is to emphasize the large quantity of those who are killed – there will be too many to insure proper mourning rites and proper burial.

[39:16]  ¹² sn Even though Jeremiah was confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse, he was still free to entertain visitors (32:2, 8). Moreover, Ebed-Melech was an official attached to the royal court and would have had access to the courtyard of the guardhouse (38:7, 13). Jeremiah would not have had to leave the courtyard of the guardhouse to “go and tell” him something.

[39:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “Behold, I will bring to pass my words against this city for evil/disaster and not for good/good fortune.” For the form of the verb מֵבִי ([mevi] Kethib, מֵבִיא [mevi’] Qere) see GKC 206-7 §74.k, where the same form is noted for the Kethib in 2 Sam 5:2; 1 Kgs 21:21; Jer 19:15 all of which occur before a word beginning with א. For the nuance “carry out” (or “bring to pass”) see BDB 99 s.v. בּוֹא Hiph.2.b.

[39:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And they [= my words for disaster] will come to pass [= happen] before you on that day [i.e., the day that I bring them to pass/carry them out].”

[47:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “Behold! Waters are rising from the north.” The metaphor of enemy armies compared to overflowing water is seen also in Isa 8:8-9 (Assyria) and 46:7-8 (Egypt). Here it refers to the foe from the north (Jer 1:14; 4:6; etc) which is specifically identified with Babylon in Jer 25. The metaphor has been turned into a simile in the translation to help the average reader identify that a figure is involved and to hint at the referent.

[44:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they set their face to go.” Compare 44:11 and 42:14 and see the translator’s note at 42:15.

[44:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “fall by the sword.”

[44:12]  ¹⁶ tn Or “All of them without distinction,” or “All of them from the least important to the most important”; Heb “From the least to the greatest.” See the translator’s note on 42:1 for the meaning of this idiom.

[44:12]  ¹⁷ tn See the study note on 24:9 and the usage in 29:22 for the meaning and significance of this last phrase.