Jeremiah 4:30
Context4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, 1
you accomplish nothing 2 by wearing a beautiful dress, 3
decking yourself out in jewels of gold,
and putting on eye shadow! 4
You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers spurn you.
They want to kill you. 5
Jeremiah 9:3
Context“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. 7
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means. 8
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another 9
and do not pay attention to me. 10
Jeremiah 16:11
Context16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, 11 ‘It is because your ancestors 12 rejected me and paid allegiance to 13 other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. 14


[4:30] 1 tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.
[4:30] 2 tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.
[4:30] 3 tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”
[4:30] 4 tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.
[4:30] 5 tn Heb “they seek your life.”
[9:3] 6 tn The words “The
[9:3] 7 tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”
[9:3] 8 tn Heb “but not through honesty.”
[9:3] 9 tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”
[9:3] 10 tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).
[16:11] 11 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the
[16:11] 12 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).
[16:11] 13 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.
[16:11] 14 tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.