Jeremiah 4:22-27

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.”

4:23 “I looked at the land and saw ⁴  that it was an empty wasteland. ⁵ 

I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

4:24 I looked at the mountains and saw that they were shaking.

All the hills were swaying back and forth!

4:25 I looked and saw that there were no more people, ⁶ 

and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

4:26 I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert

and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins.

The Lord had brought this all about

because of his blazing anger. ⁷ 

4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, ⁸ 

“The whole land will be desolate;

however, I will not completely destroy it.

[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.”

[4:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “I looked at the land and behold...” This indicates the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future condition of the land of Israel.

[4:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “formless and empty.” This is a case of hendiadys (two nouns joined by “and” both describe the same thing): one noun retains its full nominal force, the other functions as an adjective. The words תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) allude to Gen 1:2, hyperbolically picturing a reversal of creation and return to the original precreation chaos.

[4:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”

[4:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “because of the Lord, because of his blazing anger.”

[4:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”