Jeremiah 4:2

4:2 You must be truthful, honest and upright

when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ ¹ 

If you do, ²  the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are

and will make him the object of their boasting.” ³ 

Jeremiah 20:14

20:14 Cursed be the day I was born!

May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 17:19

Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future ⁵ 

17:19 The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate ⁶  through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 7:14

7:14 So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ⁸  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ⁹  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 30:8

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹¹ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ¹² 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ¹³ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ¹⁴ 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

Jeremiah 48:27

48:27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel?

Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, ¹⁵ 

that you shook your head in contempt ¹⁶ 

every time you talked about them? ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 48:38

48:38 On all the housetops in Moab

and in all its public squares

there will be nothing but mourning.

For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 3:16

3:16 In those days, your population will greatly increase ¹⁹  in the land. At that time,” says the Lord, “people will no longer talk about having the ark ²⁰  that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. ²¹  They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more! ²² 

Jeremiah 6:10

6:10 I answered, ²³ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ²⁴ 

Their ears are so closed ²⁵ 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ²⁶  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ²⁷ 

Jeremiah 17:24

17:24 The Lord says, ²⁸  ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.

Jeremiah 19:4

19:4 I will do so because these people ²⁹  have rejected me and have defiled ³⁰  this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors ³¹  nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. ³² 

Jeremiah 22:28

22:28 This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away.

He will be like a clay vessel ³³  that no one wants. ³⁴ 

Why will he and his children be forced into exile?

Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? ³⁵ 

Jeremiah 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ³⁶  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ³⁷  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ³⁸ 

Jeremiah 31:20

31:20 Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children.

They are the children I take delight in. ³⁹ 

For even though I must often rebuke them,

I still remember them with fondness.

So I am deeply moved with pity for them ⁴⁰ 

and will surely have compassion on them.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴¹ 

Jeremiah 46:25

46:25 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁴²  says, “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes. ⁴³  I will punish Egypt, its gods, and its kings. I will punish Pharaoh and all who trust in him. ⁴⁴ 

Jeremiah 48:11

48:11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.

It has never been taken into exile.

Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,

never poured out from one jar to another.

They are like wine which tastes like it always did,

whose aroma has remained unchanged. ⁴⁵ 

Jeremiah 51:62

51:62 Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness…”

[4:2]  ² tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”

[20:14]  ⁴ sn From the heights of exaltation, Jeremiah returns to the depths of despair. For similar mood swings in the psalms of lament compare Ps 102. Verses 14-18 are similar in tone and mood to Job 3:1-10. They are very forceful rhetorical ways of Job and Jeremiah expressing the wish that they had never been born.

[17:19]  ⁷ sn Observance of the Sabbath day (and the Sabbatical year) appears to have been a litmus test of the nation’s spirituality since it is mentioned in a number of passages besides this one (cf., e.g., Isa 56:2, 6; 58:13; Neh 13:15-18). Perhaps this is because the Sabbath day was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exod 31:13-17) just as the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic covenant (Gen 9:12, 13, 17) and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 17:11). This was not the only command they failed to obey, nor was their failure to obey this one the sole determining factor in the Lord’s decision to destroy Judah (cf. 7:23- 24; 11:7-8 in their contexts).

[17:19]  ⁸ sn The identity and location of the People’s Gate is uncertain since it is mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Some identify it with the Benjamin Gate mentioned in Jer 37:13; 38:7 (cf. NAB), but there is no textual support for this in the Hebrew Bible or in any of the ancient versions.

[17:19]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 25, 26).

[7:14]  ¹² tn Heb “I will do to this house which I…in which you put…and to this place which…as I did to Shiloh.”

[30:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

[30:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

[30:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

[30:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.

[48:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “were they caught among thieves?”

[48:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “that you shook yourself.” But see the same verb in 18:16 in the active voice with the object “head” in a very similar context of contempt or derision.

[48:27]  ¹⁸ tc The reading here presupposes the emendation of דְבָרֶיךָ (dÿvarekha, “your words”) to דַבֶּרְךָ (dabberkha, “your speaking”), suggested by BHS (cf. fn c) on the basis of one of the Greek versions (Symmachus). For the idiom cf. BDB 191 s.v. דַּי 2.c.α.

[48:38]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[3:16]  ²² tn Heb “you will become numerous and fruitful.”

[3:16]  ²³ tn Or “chest.”

[3:16]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Or “Nor will another one be made”; Heb “one will not do/make [it?] again.”

[6:10]  ²⁵ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[17:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[19:4]  ³¹ tn The text merely has “they.” But since a reference is made later to “they” and “their ancestors,” the referent must be to the people that the leaders of the people and leaders of the priests represent.

[19:4]  ³² sn Heb “have made this city foreign.” The verb here is one that is built off of the noun and adjective which relate to foreign nations. Comparison may be made to Jer 2:21 where the adjective refers to the strange, wild vine as opposed to the choice vine the Lord planted and to 5:19 and 8:19 where the noun is used of worshiping foreign gods. Israel through its false worship has “denationalized” itself in its relation to God.

[19:4]  ³³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[19:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the blood of innocent ones.” This must be a reference to child sacrifice as explained in the next verse. Some have seen a reference to the sins of social injustice alluded to in 2 Kgs 21:16 and 24:4 but those are connected with the city itself. Hence the word children is supplied in the translation to make the referent explicit.

[22:28]  ³⁴ tn The word translated “clay vessel” occurs only here. Its meaning, however, is assured on the basis of the parallelism and on the basis of the verb root which is used for shaping or fashioning in Job 10:8. The KJV renders it as “idol,” but that word, while having the same consonants, never appears in the singular. The word is missing in the Greek version but is translated “vessel” in the Latin version. The word “clay” is supplied in the translation to clarify what sort of vessel is meant; its inclusion is justified based on the context and the use of the same verb root in Job 10:8 to refer to shaping or fashioning, which would imply clay pots or vessels.

[22:28]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Is this man, Coniah, a despised, broken vessel or a vessel that no one wants?” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer in agreement with the preceding oracle.

[22:28]  ³⁶ sn The question “Why?” is a common rhetorical feature in the book of Jeremiah. See Jer 2:14, 31; 8:5, 19, 22; 12:1; 13:22; 14:19. In several cases like this one no answer is given, leaving a sense of exasperation and hopelessness with the sinfulness of the nation that calls forth such punishment from God.

[27:7]  ³⁷ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[31:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Is Ephraim a dear son to me or a child of delight?” For the substitution of Israel for Ephraim and the plural pronouns for the singular see the note on v. 18. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.c the question is rhetorical having the force of an impassioned affirmation. See 1 Sam 2:27; Job 41:9 (41:1 HT) for parallel usage.

[31:20]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “my stomach churns for him.” The parallelism shows that this refers to pity or compassion.

[31:20]  ⁴² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[46:25]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[46:25]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Amon of No.”

[46:25]  ⁴⁵ tc Heb “Behold I will punish Amon of No and Pharaoh and Egypt and its gods and its kings and Pharaoh and all who trust in him.” There appears to be a copyist slip involving a double writing of וְעַל־פַּרְעֹה (vÿ’al-par’oh). The present translation has followed the suggestion of BHS and deleted the first one since the second is necessary for the syntactical connection, “Pharaoh and all who trust in him.”

[48:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Therefore his taste remains in him and his aroma is not changed.” The metaphor is changed into a simile in an attempt to help the reader understand the figure in the context.