Jeremiah 4:9

4:9 “When this happens,” ¹  says the Lord,

“the king and his officials will lose their courage.

The priests will be struck with horror,

and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment.”

Jeremiah 18:8

18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ²  I will cancel the destruction ³  I intended to do to it.

Jeremiah 20:16

20:16 May that man be like the cities ⁴ 

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 23:34

23:34 I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” ⁵  I will punish both that person and his whole family.’” ⁶ 

Jeremiah 30:7-8

30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! ⁷ 

There has never been any like it.

It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,

but some of them will be rescued out of it. ⁸ 

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ⁹ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁰ 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ¹¹ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ¹² 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

Jeremiah 39:17

39:17 But I will rescue you when it happens. ¹³  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁴  You will not be handed over to those whom you fear. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 48:41

48:41 Her towns ¹⁶  will be captured.

Her fortresses will be taken.

At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened

like a woman in labor. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 49:22

49:22 Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,

a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.

At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful

as a woman in labor.” ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 49:26

49:26 For her young men will fall in her city squares.

All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”

says the Lord who rules over all. ¹⁹ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “In that day.”

[18:8]  ² tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ³ 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]  ³ 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.

[23:34]  ⁴ tn Heb “burden of the Lord.”

[23:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “And the prophet or the priest or the people [common person] who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,” I will visit upon [= punish] that man and his house.” This is an example of the Hebrew construction call nominative absolute or casus pendens (cf. GKC 458 §143.d).

[30:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Alas [or Woe] for that day will be great.” For the use of the particle “Alas” to signal a time of terrible trouble, even to sound the death knell for someone, see the translator’s note on 22:13.

[30:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”

[30:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

[30:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

[30:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

[30:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.

[39:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “But I will rescue you on that day” (referring to the same day mentioned in the preceding verse).

[39:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[39:17]  ⁹ sn Some commentators see this as a reference to the princes from whose clutches Ebed-Melech delivered Jeremiah (38:7-13). However, it is clear that in this context it refers to those that he would fear when the Lord brings about the threatened disaster, i.e., the Babylonians who are attacking the city.

[48:41]  ⁸ tn Parallelism argues that the word קְרִיּוֹת (qÿriyyot) be understood as the otherwise unattested feminine plural of the noun קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) rather than the place name Kerioth mentioned in v. 24 (cf. HALOT 1065 s.v. קִרְיָה). Both this noun and the parallel term “fortresses” are plural but are found with feminine singular verbs, being treated either as collectives or distributive plurals (cf. GKC 462-63 §145.c or 464 §145.l).

[48:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “The heart of the soldiers of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in labor.”

[49:22]  ⁹ sn Compare Jer 48:40-41 for a similar prophecy about Moab. The parallelism here suggests that Bozrah, like Teman in v. 20, is a poetic equivalent for Edom.

[49:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” For this title for God see the study note on 2:19.