Jeremiah 4:11-15

4:11 “At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem ¹  will be told,

‘A scorching wind will sweep down

from the hilltops in the desert on ²  my dear people. ³ 

It will not be a gentle breeze

for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. ⁴ 

4:12 No, ⁵  a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.

Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ ⁶ 

4:13 Look! The enemy is approaching like gathering clouds. ⁷ 

The roar of his chariots is like that of a whirlwind. ⁸ 

His horses move more swiftly than eagles.”

I cry out, ⁹  “We are doomed, ¹⁰  for we will be destroyed!”

4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ¹¹ 

so that you may yet be delivered.

How long will you continue to harbor up

wicked schemes within you?

4:15 For messengers are coming, heralding disaster,

from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim. ¹² 

Jeremiah 9:19-21

9:19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.

They will wail, ¹³  ‘We are utterly ruined! ¹⁴  We are completely disgraced!

For our houses have been torn down

and we must leave our land.’” ¹⁵ 

9:20 I said, ¹⁶ 

“So now, ¹⁷  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ¹⁸ 

Open your ears to the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters this mournful song,

and each of you teach your neighbor ¹⁹  this lament.

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in ²⁰  through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

[4:11]  ¹ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:11]  ² tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”

[4:11]  ³ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common expression “daughter of Zion.”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.

[4:12]  ⁵ tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”

[4:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.

[4:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.

[4:13]  ⁹ tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the Lord’s. They are either those of the people or of Jeremiah. Taking them as Jeremiah’s parallels the interjection of Jeremiah’s response in 4:10 which is formally introduced.

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”

[4:15]  ¹² tn Heb “For a voice declaring from Dan and making heard disaster from the hills of Ephraim.”

[9:19]  ¹³ tn The words “They will wail” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to make clear that this is the wailing that will be heard.

[9:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “How we are ruined!”

[9:19]  ¹⁵ tn The order of these two lines has been reversed for English stylistic reasons. The text reads in Hebrew “because we have left our land because they have thrown down our dwellings.” The two clauses offer parallel reasons for the cries “How ruined we are! [How] we are greatly disgraced!” But the first line must contain a prophetic perfect (because the lament comes from Jerusalem) and the second a perfect referring to a destruction that is itself future. This seems the only way to render the verse that would not be misleading.

[9:20]  ¹⁶ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. The text merely has “Indeed, yes.” The words are supplied in the translation to indicate that the speaker is still Jeremiah though he now is not talking about the mourning woman but is talking to them. See the notes on 9:17-18 for further explanation.

[9:20]  ¹⁷ tn It is a little difficult to explain how the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here. W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:311) may be correct in seeing it as introducing the contents of what those who call for the mourning women are to say. In this case, Jeremiah picks up the task as representative of the people.

[9:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord.”

[9:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Teach…mournful song, and each woman her neighbor lady…”

[9:21]  ²⁰ sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.