Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ¹ 

“This will happen ²  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ³ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 8:8

8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, ⁴  those who teach it ⁵  have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 9:17

9:17 The Lord who rules over all ⁷  told me to say to this people, ⁸ 

“Take note of what I say. ⁹ 

Call for the women who mourn for the dead!

Summon those who are the most skilled at it!” ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ¹¹ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹² 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 10:7

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ¹⁴ 

because you deserve to be revered. ¹⁵ 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 10:9

10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish ¹⁷ 

and gold is brought from Uphaz ¹⁸  to cover those idols. ¹⁹ 

They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. ²⁰ 

They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. ²¹ 

They are all made by skillful workers. ²² 

Jeremiah 51:57

51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

along with her governors, leaders, ²³  and warriors.

They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ²⁴ 

says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ²⁵ 

[4:22]  ¹ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ² tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ³ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Surely, behold!”

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the scribes.”

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.

[9:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” However, without some addition it is not clear to whom the command is addressed. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity and to help resolve a rather confusing issue of who is speaking throughout vv. 16-21. As has been evident throughout the translation, the speaker is not always indicated. Sometimes it is not even clear who the speaker is. In general the translation and the notes have reflected the general consensus in identifying who it is. Here, however, there is a good deal of confusion about who is speaking in vv. 18, 20-21. The Greek translation has the Lord speaking throughout with second plural pronouns in vv. 18, 21 and the absence of the first line in v. 22. It would be hard to explain how the MT arose if it were the original text. Critical commentators such as J. Bright, W. Holladay, and W. McKane resolve the issue by dropping out the introductory formula in v. 17 and the first line of v. 22 and assigning the whole lament to Jeremiah. It seems obvious from the first plural pronouns and the content of v. 18 (and probably v. 21 as well) and the fact that the Lord is referred to in other than the first person in v. 20 that he is not the speaker of those verses. I have attempted to resolve the issue by having Jeremiah report the Lord’s command in v. 17 and have the rest of the speech be essentially that of Jeremiah. It should be admitted, however, that the issue is far from resolved. Most English versions simply ignore the problem. The GNB (= TEV) is a rare exception.

[9:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “Consider!”

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Call for the mourning women that they may come and send for the wise/skilled women that they may come.” The verbs here are masculine plural, addressed to the people.

[9:23]  ¹⁰ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹² tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[10:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[10:9]  ¹⁶ tc Two Qumran scrolls of Jeremiah (4QJer^a and 4QJer^b) reflect a Hebrew text that is very different than the traditional MT from which modern Bibles have been translated. The Hebrew text in these two manuscripts is similar to that from which LXX was translated. This is true both in small details and in major aspects where the LXX differs from MT. Most notably, 4QJer^a, 4QJer^b and LXX present a version of Jeremiah about 13% shorter than the longer version found in MT. One example of this shorter text is Jer 10:3-11 in which MT and 4QJer^a both have all nine verses, while LXX and 4QJer^b both lack vv. 6-8 and 10, which extol the greatness of God. In addition, the latter part of v. 9 is arranged differently in LXX and 4QJer^b. The translation here follows MT which is supported by 4QJer^a.

[10:9]  ¹⁷ tn This is a place of unknown location. It is mentioned again in Dan 10:5. Many emend the word to “Ophir” following the Syriac version and the Aramaic Targum. Ophir was famous for its gold (cf. 1 Kgs 9:28; Job 28:16).

[10:9]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to cover those idols” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ¹⁹ tn The words “They are” are not in the text. The text reads merely, “the work of the carpenter and of the hands of the goldsmith.” The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Blue and purple their clothing.”

[10:9]  ²¹ sn There is an ironic pun in this last line. The Hebrew word translated “skillful workers” is the same word that is translated “wise people” in v. 7. The artisans do their work skillfully but they are not “wise.”

[51:57]  ¹⁹ sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.

[51:57]  ²⁰ sn See the note at Jer 51:39.

[51:57]  ²¹ tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.