Jeremiah 4:15

4:15 For messengers are coming, heralding disaster,

from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim. ¹ 

Jeremiah 6:30

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ² 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Jeremiah 13:15

13:15 Then I said to the people of Judah, ³ 

“Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant!

For the Lord has spoken.

Jeremiah 14:20

14:20 Lord, we confess that we have been wicked.

We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. ⁴ 

We have indeed ⁵  sinned against you.

Jeremiah 17:14

17:14 Lord, grant me relief from my suffering

so that I may have some relief.

Rescue me from those who persecute me

so that I may be rescued. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 29:13

29:13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, ⁷ 

Jeremiah 29:15

29:15 “You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news ⁸  for us here in Babylon.’

Jeremiah 30:12

The Lord Will Heal the Wounds of Judah

30:12 Moreover, ⁹  the Lord says to the people of Zion, ¹⁰ 

“Your injuries are incurable;

your wounds are severe. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 31:25

31:25 I will fully satisfy the needs of those who are weary

and fully refresh the souls of those who are faint. ¹² 

Jeremiah 46:15

46:15 Why will your soldiers ¹³  be defeated? ¹⁴ 

They will not stand because I, the Lord, will thrust ¹⁵  them down.

Jeremiah 48:42

48:42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation, ¹⁶ 

because she has vaunted herself against the Lord.

Jeremiah 49:15

49:15 The Lord says to Edom, ¹⁷ 

“I will certainly make you small among nations.

I will make you despised by all humankind.

[4:15]  ¹ tn Heb “For a voice declaring from Dan and making heard disaster from the hills of Ephraim.”

[6:30]  ² tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

[13:15]  ³ tn The words “Then I said to the people of Judah” are not in the text but are implicit from the address in v. 15 and the content of v. 17. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift from the Lord speaking to Jeremiah.

[14:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “We acknowledge our wickedness [and] the iniquity of our [fore]fathers.” For the use of the word “know” to mean “confess,” “acknowledge” cf. BDB 394 s.v. יָדַע, Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 3:13.

[14:20]  ⁵ tn This is another example of the intensive use of כִּי (ki). See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.

[17:14]  ⁵ tn The translation fills in the details of the metaphor from a preceding context (15:18) and from the following context (17:18). The literal translation “Heal me and I will be healed. Rescue me and I will be rescued.” does not make much sense if these details are not filled in. The metaphor is filled in for clarity for the average reader.

[29:13]  ⁶ tn Or “If you wholeheartedly seek me”; Heb “You will seek me and find [me] because you will seek me with all your heart.” The translation attempts to reflect the theological nuances of “seeking” and “finding” and the psychological significance of “heart” which refers more to intellectual and volitional concerns in the OT than to emotional ones.

[29:15]  ⁷ tn The words “of good news” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[30:12]  ⁸ tn The particle כִּי (ki) here is parallel to the one in v. 5 that introduces the first oracle. See the discussion in the translator’s note there.

[30:12]  ⁹ tn The pronouns in vv. 10-17 are second feminine singular referring to a personified entity. That entity is identified in v. 17 as Zion, which here stands for the people of Zion.

[30:12]  ¹⁰ sn The wounds to the body politic are those of the incursions from the enemy from the north referred to in Jer 4:6; 6:1 over which Jeremiah and even God himself have lamented (Jer 8:21; 10:19; 14:17). The enemy from the north has been identified as Babylon and has been identified as the agent of God’s punishment of his disobedient people (Jer 1:15; 4:6; 25:9).

[31:25]  ⁹ tn The verbs here again emphasize that the actions are as good as done (i.e., they are prophetic perfects; cf. GKC 312-13 §106.n).

[46:15]  ¹⁰ tn The word translated “soldiers” (אַבִּירִים, ’abbirim) is not the Hebrew word that has been used of soldiers elsewhere in these oracles (גִּבּוֹרִים, gibborim). It is an adjective used as a noun that can apply to animals, i.e., of a bull (Ps 50:13) or a stallion (Judg 5:22). Moreover, the form is masculine plural and the verbs are singular. Hence, many modern commentaries and English versions follow the redivision of the first line presupposed by the Greek version, “Apis has fled” (נָס חַף, nas khaf) and see this as a reference to the bull god of Memphis. However, the noun is used of soldiers in Lam 1:15 and the plural could be the distributive plural, i.e., each and every one (cf. GKC 464 §145.l and compare usage in Gen 27:29).

[46:15]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word used here only occurs here (in the Niphal) and in Prov 28:3 (in the Qal) where it refers to a rain that beats down grain. That idea would fit nicely with the idea of the soldiers being beaten down, or defeated. It is possible that the rarity of this verb (versus the common verb נוּס, nus, “flee”) and the ready identification of Apis with the bull calf (אַבִּיר, ’abbir) has led to the reading of the Greek text (so C. von Orelli, Jeremiah, 327). The verbs in this verse and the following are in the perfect tense but should be understood as prophetic perfects since the text is dealing with what will happen when Nebuchadnezzar comes into Egypt. The text of vv. 18-24 shows a greater mixture with some perfects and some imperfects, sometimes even within the same verse (e.g., v. 22).

[46:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord will thrust them down.” However, the Lord is speaking (cf. clearly in v. 18), so the first person is adopted for the sake of consistency. This has been a consistent problem in the book of Jeremiah where the prophet is so identified with the word of the Lord that he sometimes uses the first person and sometimes the third. It creates confusion for the average reader who is trying to follow the flow of the argument and has been shifted to the first person like this on a number of occasions. TEV and CEV have generally adopted the same policy as have some other modern English versions at various points.

[48:42]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Moab will be destroyed from [being] a people.”

[49:15]  ¹² tn The words “The Lord says to Edom” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to mark the shift from the address of the messenger summoning the nations to prepare to do battle against Edom. The Lord is clearly the speaker (see the end of v. 16) and Edom is clearly the addressee. Such sudden shifts are common in Hebrew poetry, particularly Hebrew prophecy, but are extremely disruptive to a modern reader trying to follow the argument of a passage. TEV adds “The Lord said” and then retains third person throughout. CEV puts all of vv. 14-16 in the second person and uses indirect discourse in v. 15.