Jeremiah 4:25

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 16:20

16:20 Can people make their own gods?

No, what they make are not gods at all.” ² 

Jeremiah 49:15

49:15 The Lord says to Edom, ³ 

“I will certainly make you small among nations.

I will make you despised by all humankind.

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

[16:20]  ² tn Heb “and they are ‘no gods.’” For the construction here compare 2:11 and a similar construction in 2 Kgs 19:18 and see BDB 519 s.v. לֹא 1.b(b).

[49:15]  ³ tn The words “The Lord says to Edom” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to mark the shift from the address of the messenger summoning the nations to prepare to do battle against Edom. The Lord is clearly the speaker (see the end of v. 16) and Edom is clearly the addressee. Such sudden shifts are common in Hebrew poetry, particularly Hebrew prophecy, but are extremely disruptive to a modern reader trying to follow the argument of a passage. TEV adds “The Lord said” and then retains third person throughout. CEV puts all of vv. 14-16 in the second person and uses indirect discourse in v. 15.