Jeremiah 4:18

4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done ¹ 

will bring this on you.

This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. ² 

The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” ³ 

Jeremiah 7:3

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁴  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁵  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 7:16

7:16 Then the Lord said, ⁷  “As for you, Jeremiah, ⁸  do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, ⁹  because I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 15:11

15:11 The Lord said,

“Jerusalem, ¹⁰  I will surely send you away for your own good.

I will surely ¹¹  bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress.

Jeremiah 21:14

21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’

says the Lord. ¹² 

‘I will set fire to your palace;

it will burn up everything around it.’” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 47:6

47:6 How long will you cry out, ¹⁴  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ¹⁵ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 48:17

48:17 Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it,

all of you nations that know of its fame. ¹⁷ 

Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken!

Its glory and power have been done away!’ ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 51:63

51:63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. ¹⁹ 

[4:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”

[4:18]  ² tn Heb “How bitter!”

[4:18]  ³ tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.

[7:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:16]  ⁷ tn The words “Then the Lord said” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “As for you.” The personal name Jeremiah is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:16]  ⁹ tn The words “to save them” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[15:11]  ¹⁰ tn The word “Jerusalem” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation for clarity to identify the referent of “you.” A comparison of three or four English versions will show how difficult this verse is to interpret. The primary difficulty is with the meaning of the verb rendered here as “I will surely send you out [שֵׁרִותִךָ, sherivtikha].” The text and the meaning of the word are debated (for a rather full discussion see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:446-47, n. b-b). Tied up with that is the meaning of the verb in the second line and the identification of who the speaker and addressee are. One of two approaches are usually followed. Some follow the Greek version which has Jeremiah speaking and supporting his complaint that he has been faithful. In this case the word “said” is left out, the difficult verb is taken to mean “I have served you” (שֵׁרַתִּיךָ [sheratikha] from שָׁרַת [sharat; BDB 1058 s.v. שָׁרַת]) and the parallel verb means “I have made intercession for my enemies.” The second tack is to suppose that God is speaking and is promising Jeremiah deliverance from his detractors. In this case the troublesome word is taken to mean “deliver” (cf. BDB 1056 s.v. I שָׁרָה), “strengthen” (see BDB’s discussion) or read as a noun “remnant” (שֵׁרִיתְךָ = שְׁאֵרִיתְךָ [sheritekha = shÿ’eritekha]; again see BDB’s discussion). In this case the parallel verb is taken to mean “I will cause your enemies to entreat you,” a meaning it has nowhere else. Both of these approaches are probably wrong. The Greek text is the only evidence for leaving out “said.” The problem with making Jeremiah the addressee is twofold. First, the word “enemy” is never used in the book of Jeremiah’s foes, always of political enemies. Second, and more troublesome, one must assume a shift in the addressee between v. 11 and vv.13-14 or assume that the whole is addressed. The latter would be odd if he is promised deliverance from his detractors only to be delivered to captivity. If, however, one assumes that the whole is addressed to Jerusalem, there is no such problem. A check of earlier chapters will show that the second masculine pronoun is used for Judah/Jerusalem in 2:28-29; 4:1-2; 5:17-18; 11:13. In 2:28-28 and 4:1-2 the same shift from second singular to second plural takes place as does here in vv. 13-14. Moreover, vv. 13-14 continue much of the same vocabulary and is addressed to Jerusalem. The approach followed here is similar to that taken in REB except “for good” is taken in the way it is always used rather to mean “utterly.” The nuance suggested by BDB 1056 s.v. I שָׁרָה is assumed and the meaning of the parallel verb is assumed to be similar to that in Isa 53:6 (see BDB 803 s.v. פָּגַע Hiph.1). The MT is retained with demonstrable meanings. For the concept of “for good” see Jer 24:5-6. This assumes that the ultimate goal of God’s discipline is here announced.

[15:11]  ¹¹ tn “Surely” represents a construct in Hebrew that indicates a strong oath of affirmation. Cf. BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b(2) and compare usage in 2 Kgs 9:26.

[21:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[21:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.

[47:6]  ¹⁶ tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.

[47:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ¹⁸ sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.

[48:17]  ¹⁹ tn For the use of the word “name” (שֵׁם, shem) to “fame” or “repute” see BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b and compare the usage in Ezek 16:14; 2 Chr 26:15.

[48:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod.” “How” introduces a lament which is here rendered by “Alas.” The staff and rod refer to the support that Moab gave to others not to the fact that she ruled over others which was never the case. According to BDB 739 s.v. עוֹז 1 the “strong staff” is figurative of political power.

[51:63]  ²² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.