Jeremiah 5:15

5:15 The Lord says, ¹  “Listen, ²  nation of Israel! ³ 

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.

Jeremiah 23:2

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ⁴  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ⁵  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 29:10-11

29:10 “For the Lord says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule ⁷  are over will I again take up consideration for you. ⁸  Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore ⁹  you to your homeland. ¹⁰  29:11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ¹¹  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ¹²  a future filled with hope. ¹³ 

[5:15]  ¹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:15]  ² tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:15]  ³ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[23:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

[23:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

[23:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:10]  ⁷ sn See the study note on Jer 25:11 for the reckoning of the seventy years.

[29:10]  ⁸ tn See the translator’s note on Jer 27:22 for this term.

[29:10]  ⁹ tn Verse 10 is all one long sentence in the Hebrew original: “According to the fullness of Babylon seventy years I will take thought of you and I will establish my gracious word to you by bringing you back to this place.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style.

[29:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “this place.” The text has probably been influenced by the parallel passage in 27:22. The term appears fifteen times in Jeremiah and is invariably a reference to Jerusalem or Judah.

[29:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I know the plans that I am planning for you, oracle of the Lord, plans of well-being and not for harm to give to you….”

[29:11]  ¹² tn Or “the future you hope for”; Heb “a future and a hope.” This is a good example of hendiadys where two formally coordinated nouns (adjectives, verbs) convey a single idea where one of the terms functions as a qualifier of the other. For this figure see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 658-72. This example is discussed on p. 661.