Jeremiah 5:14-17

5:14 Because of that, ¹  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ²  said to me, ³ 

“Because these people have spoken ⁴  like this, ⁵ 

I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.

And I will make this people like wood

which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ⁶ 

5:15 The Lord says, ⁷  “Listen, ⁸  nation of Israel! ⁹ 

I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.

It will be a nation that was founded long ago

and has lasted for a long time.

It will be a nation whose language you will not know.

Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. ¹⁰ 

Their arrows will send you to your grave. ¹¹ 

5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food.

They will kill off ¹²  your sons and your daughters.

They will eat up your sheep and your cattle.

They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. ¹³ 

Their weapons will batter down ¹⁴ 

the fortified cities you trust in.

[5:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[5:14]  ² tn Heb “The Lord God of armies.” See the translator’s note at 2:19.

[5:14]  ³ tn The words, “to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “you have spoken.” The text here דַּבֶּרְכֶם (dabberkhem, “you have spoken”) is either a case of a scribal error for דַּבֶּרָם (dabberam, “they have spoken”) or an example of the rapid shift in addressee which is common in Jeremiah.

[5:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “this word.”

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “like wood and it [i.e., the fire I put in your mouth] will consume them.”

[5:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[5:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “All of them are mighty warriors.”

[5:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his quiver [is] an open grave.” The order of the lines has been reversed to make the transition from “nation” to “their arrows” easier.

[5:17]  ¹² tn Heb “eat up.”

[5:17]  ¹³ tn Or “eat up your grapes and figs”; Heb “eat up your vines and your fig trees.”

[5:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They will beat down with the sword.” The term “sword” is a figure of speech (synecdoche) for military weapons in general. Siege ramps, not swords, beat down city walls; swords kill people, not city walls.