Jeremiah 4:24-25

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, ¹ 

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

Jeremiah 4:23

4:23 “I looked at the land and saw ²  that it was an empty wasteland. ³ 

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

Jeremiah 4:26

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. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 23:13

23:13 The Lord says, ⁵  “I saw the prophets of Samaria ⁶ 

doing something that was disgusting. ⁷ 

They prophesied in the name of the god Baal

and led my people Israel astray. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 7:11

7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ⁹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ¹⁰  You had better take note! ¹¹  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Jeremiah 13:27

13:27 People of Jerusalem, ¹²  I have seen your adulterous worship,

your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ¹³ 

I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ¹⁴ 

on the hills throughout the countryside.

You are doomed to destruction! ¹⁵ 

How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Jeremiah 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹⁶ 

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like ¹⁷  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Jeremiah 46:5

46:5 What do I see?” ¹⁸  says the Lord. ¹⁹ 

“The soldiers ²⁰  are terrified.

They are retreating.

They have been defeated.

They are overcome with terror; ²¹ 

they desert quickly

without looking back.

Jeremiah 23:14

23:14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ²² 

doing something just as shocking.

They are unfaithful to me

and continually prophesy lies. ²³ 

So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,

with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ²⁴ 

I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,

and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ²⁵ 

[4:25]  ¹ tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”

[4:23]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[4:26]  ¹ tn Heb “because of the Lord, because of his blazing anger.”

[23:13]  ¹ tn The words “The Lord says” are not in the text, but it is clear from the content that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:13]  ² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[23:13]  ³ tn According to BDB 1074 s.v. תִּפְלָּה this word means “unseemly, unsavory.” The related adjective is used in Job 6:6 of the tastelessness of something that is unseasoned.

[23:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “by Baal.”

[7:11]  ¹ 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.

[7:11]  ² tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[13:27]  ¹ tn Heb “Jerusalem.” This word has been pulled up from the end of the verse to help make the transition. The words “people of” have been supplied in the translation here to ease the difficulty mentioned earlier of sustaining the personification throughout.

[13:27]  ² tn Heb “[I have seen] your adulteries, your neighings, and your shameless prostitution.” The meanings of the metaphorical references have been incorporated in the translation for the sake of clarity for readers of all backgrounds.

[13:27]  ³ tn Heb “your disgusting acts.” This word is almost always used of idolatry or of the idols themselves. See BDB 1055 s.v. שִׁקֻּוּץ and Deut 29:17 and Jer 4:1; 7:30.

[13:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe to you!”

[30:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ² tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[46:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Why do I see?” The rendering is that of J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 685, 88) and J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 301; TEV; NIV). The question is not asking for information but is expressing surprise or wonder (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 951).

[46:5]  ² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.” This phrase, which is part of a messenger formula (i.e., that the words that are spoken are from him), are actually at the end of the verse. They have been put here for better poetic balance and to better identify the “I.”

[46:5]  ³ tn Heb “Their soldiers.” These words are actually at the midpoint of the stanza as the subject of the third of the five verbs. However, as G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 291) note, this is the subject of all five verbs “are terrified,” “are retreating,” “have been defeated,” “have run away,” and “have not looked back.” The subject is put at the front to avoid an unidentified “they.”

[46:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “terror is all around.”

[23:14]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:14]  ² tn Or “they commit adultery and deal falsely.” The word “shocking” only occurs here and in 5:30 where it is found in the context of prophesying lies. This almost assures that the reference to “walking in lies” (Heb “in the lie”) is referring to false prophesy. Moreover the references to the prophets in 5:13 and in 14:13-15 are all in the context of false prophesy as are the following references in this chapter in 23:24, 26, 32 and in 28:15. This appears to be the theme of this section. This also makes it likely that the reference to adultery is not literal adultery, though two of the false prophets in Babylon were guilty of this (29:23). The reference to “encouraging those who do evil” that follows also makes more sense if they were preaching messages of comfort rather than messages of doom. The verbs here are infinitive absolutes in place of the finite verb, probably used to place greater emphasis on the action (cf. Hos 4:2 in a comparable judgment speech.)

[23:14]  ³ tn Heb “So they strengthen the hands of those doing evil so that they do not turn back from their evil.” For the use of the figure “strengthen the hands” meaning “encourage” see Judg 9:24; Ezek 13:22 (and cf. BDB 304 s.v. חָזַק Piel.2). The vav consecutive on the front of the form gives the logical consequence equivalent to “so” in the translation.

[23:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “All of them are to me like Sodom and its [Jerusalem’s] inhabitants like Gomorrah.”