Jeremiah 4:28

4:28 Because of this the land will mourn

and the sky above will grow black. ¹ 

For I have made my purpose known ² 

and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.” ³ 

Jeremiah 15:6

15:6 I, the Lord, say: ⁴  ‘You people have deserted me!

You keep turning your back on me.’ ⁵ 

So I have unleashed my power against you ⁶  and have begun to destroy you. ⁷ 

I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 16:7

16:7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

Jeremiah 18:8

18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ⁹  I will cancel the destruction ¹⁰  I intended to do to it.

Jeremiah 18:10

18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Jeremiah 20:16

20:16 May that man be like the cities ¹¹ 

that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy.

May he hear a cry of distress in the morning

and a battle cry at noon.

Jeremiah 26:3

26:3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. ¹²  If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them ¹³  as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 26:13

26:13 But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹⁵  Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 31:13

31:13 The Lord says, ¹⁷  “At that time young women will dance and be glad.

Young men and old men will rejoice. ¹⁸ 

I will turn their grief into gladness.

I will give them comfort and joy in place of their sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:19

31:19 For after we turned away from you we repented.

After we came to our senses ¹⁹  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ²⁰ 

We are ashamed and humiliated

because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ²¹ 

[4:28]  ¹ sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.

[4:28]  ² tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is an example of hendiadys where two verbs are joined by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.

[4:28]  ³ tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”

[15:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.” In the original text this phrase is found between “you have deserted me” and “you keep turning your back on me.” It is put at the beginning and converted to first person for sake of English style and clarity.

[15:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “you are going backward.” This is the only occurrence of this adverb with this verb. It is often used with another verb meaning “turn backward” (= abandon; Heb סוּג [sug] in the Niphal). For examples see Jer 38:22; 46:5. The only other occurrence in Jeremiah has been in the unusual idiom in 7:24 where it was translated “they got worse and worse instead of better.” That is how J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 109) translates it here. However it is translated, it has connotations of apostasy.

[15:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “stretched out my hand against you.” For this idiom see notes on 6:12.

[15:6]  ⁷ tn There is a difference of opinion on how the verbs here and in the following verses are to be rendered, whether past or future. KJV, NASB, NIV for example render them as future. ASV, RSV, TEV render them as past. NJPS has past here and future in vv. 7-9. This is perhaps the best solution. The imperfect + vav consecutive here responds to the perfect in the first line. The imperfects + vav consecutives followed by perfects in vv. 7-9 and concluded by an imperfect in v. 9 pick up the perfects + vav (ו) consecutives in vv. 3-4. Verses 7-9 are further development of the theme in vv. 1-4. Verses 5-6 have been an apostrophe or a turning aside to address Jerusalem directly. For a somewhat similar alternation of the tenses see Isa 5:14-17 and consult GKC 329-30 §111.w. One could of course argue that the imperfects + vav consecutive in vv. 7-9 continue the imperfect + vav consecutive here. In this case, vv. 7-9 are not a continuation of the oracle of doom but another lament by God (cf. 14:1-6, 17-18).

[15:6]  ⁸ sn It is difficult to be sure what intertextual connections are intended by the author in his use of vocabulary. The Hebrew word translated “grown tired” is not very common. It has been used twice before. In 9:5-6b where it refers to the people being unable to repent and in 6:11 where it refers to Jeremiah being tired or unable to hold back his anger because of that inability. Now God too has worn out his patience with them (cf. Isa 7:13).

[18:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ⁸ tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.

[20:16]  ¹⁰ sn The cities alluded to are Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the Jordan plain which had become proverbial for their wickedness and for the destruction that the Lord brought on them because of it. See Isa 1:9-10; 13:19; Jer 23:14; 49:18.

[26:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “will turn from his wicked way.”

[26:3]  ¹⁴ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[26:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of their deeds.”

[26:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.

[26:13]  ¹⁷ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[31:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” This phrase has been brought up to the beginning of v. 13 from the end of v. 14 to introduce the transition from third person description by Jeremiah to first person address by the Lord.

[31:13]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows the reading of the LXX (Greek version). The Hebrew reads “will dance and be glad, young men and old men together.” The Greek version presupposes a Qal imperfect of a rare verb (יַחְדּוּ [yakhdu] from the verb חָדָה [khadah]; see BDB 292 s.v. II חָדָה Qal) as opposed to the Hebrew text which reads a common adverb יַחְדָּו (yakhdav). The consonantal text is the same but the vocalization is different. There are no other examples of the syntax of the adverb used this way (i.e., of a compound subject added to a third subject) and the vocalization of the Hebrew text can be explained on the basis of a scribe misvocalizing the text based on his greater familiarity with the adverb.

[31:19]  ²² tn For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s.v. יָדַע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates “Now that I am submissive” relating the verb to a second root meaning “be submissive.” (See HALOT 375 s.v. II יָדַע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19-21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)

[31:19]  ²³ tn Heb “I struck my thigh.” This was a gesture of grief and anguish (cf. Ezek 21:12 [21:17 HT]). The modern equivalent is “to beat the breast.”

[31:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “because I bear the reproach of my youth.” For the plural referents see the note at the beginning of v. 18.