Jeremiah 5:23

5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and gone their own way. ¹ 

Jeremiah 7:25-28

7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, ²  I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, ³  day after day. ⁴  7:26 But your ancestors ⁵  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ⁶  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

7:27 Then the Lord said to me, ⁷  “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you. 7:28 So tell them: ‘This is a nation that has not obeyed the Lord their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 8:5

8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem ⁹ 

continually turn away from me in apostasy?

They hold fast to their deception. ¹⁰ 

They refuse to turn back to me. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 11:7

11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ¹²  I warned them again and again, ¹³  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.

Jeremiah 11:18

A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice

11:18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding. ¹⁴ 

Then he showed me what the people were doing. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ¹⁶  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ¹⁷  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 25:3-7

25:3 “For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah ¹⁹  until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again ²⁰  what he said. ²¹  But you would not listen. 25:4 Over and over again ²²  the Lord has sent ²³  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ²⁴  25:5 He said through them, ²⁵  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ²⁶  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ²⁷  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ²⁸  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ²⁹  Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says, ³⁰  ‘You have not listened to me. But ³¹  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ³²  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

Jeremiah 34:14-17

34:14 “Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.” ³³  But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me. 34:15 Recently, however, you yourselves ³⁴  showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own. ³⁵  34:16 But then you turned right around ³⁶  and showed that you did not honor me. ³⁷  Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again. ³⁸  34:17 So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. ³⁹  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom ⁴⁰  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴¹  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ⁴² 

Numbers 14:11

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ⁴³  me, and how long will they not believe ⁴⁴  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

Numbers 14:2

14:2 And all the Israelites murmured ⁴⁵  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ⁴⁶  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ⁴⁷  in this wilderness!

Numbers 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ⁴⁸  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ⁴⁹  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ⁵⁰ 

Numbers 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ⁵¹  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ⁵²  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ⁵³ 

Hebrews 12:25

12:25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

[5:23]  ¹ tn The words, “their own way” are not in the text but are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:25]  ² tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”

[7:25]  ³ tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.

[7:25]  ⁴ tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.

[7:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”

[7:27]  ⁷ tn The words, “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift from the second and third person plural pronouns in vv. 21-26 and the second singular in this verse. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “Faithfulness has vanished. It is cut off from their lips.”

[8:5]  ⁹ tc The text is quite commonly emended, changing שׁוֹבְבָה הָעָם (shovÿvah ha’am) to שׁוֹבָב הָעָם (shovav ha’am) and omitting יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yÿrushalaim); this is due to the anomaly of a feminine singular verb with a masculine singular subject and the fact that the word “Jerusalem” is absent from one Hebrew ms and the LXX. However, it is possible that this is a case where the noun “Jerusalem” is a defining apposition to the word “these people,” an apposition which GKC 425 §131.k calls “permutation.” In this case the verb could be attracted to the appositional noun and there would be no reason to emend the text. The MT is undoubtedly the harder reading and is for that reason to be preferred.

[8:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to their allegiance to false gods,” or “to their false professions of loyalty”; Heb “to deceit.” Either “to their mistaken beliefs” or “to their allegiance to false gods” would fit the preceding context. The former is more comprehensive than the latter and was chosen for that reason.

[8:5]  ¹¹ sn There is a continuing play on the same root word used in the preceding verse. Here the words “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” and “turn back to me” are all forms from the root that was translated “go the wrong way” and “turn around” in v. 4. The intended effect is to contrast Judah’s recalcitrant apostasy with the usual tendency to try and correct one’s mistakes.

[11:7]  ¹² tn Heb “warned them…saying, ‘Obey me.’” However, it allows the long sentence to be broken up easier if the indirect quote is used.

[11:7]  ¹³ tn For the explanation for this rendering see the note on 7:13.

[11:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “caused me to know that I might know.” Many English versions supply an unstated object “their plots” which is referred to later in the context (cf. v. 19). The presupposition of this kind of absolute ellipsis is difficult to justify and would create the need for understanding an ellipsis of “it” also after “I knew.” It is better to see a bipolar use of the verb “know” here. For the second use of the verb “know” meaning “have understanding” see BDB 394 s.v. ָידַע Qal.5.

[11:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Then you showed me their deeds.” This is another example of the rapid shift in person which is common in Jeremiah. As elsewhere, it has been resolved for the sake of avoiding confusion for the English reader by leveling the referent to the same person throughout. The text again involves an apostrophe, talking about the Lord to addressing him.

[15:1]  ¹⁶ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[25:3]  ¹⁹ sn The year referred to would be 627 b.c. The same year is referred to in 1:2 in reference to his call to be a prophet.

[25:3]  ²⁰ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:3]  ²¹ tn The words “what he said” are not in the text but are implicit. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[25:4]  ²² tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ²³ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

[25:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[25:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

[25:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[25:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:7]  ³¹ tn This is a rather clear case where the Hebrew particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a consequence and not a purpose, contrary to the dictum of BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. They have not listened to him in order to make him angry but with the result that they have made him angry by going their own way. Jeremiah appears to use this particle for result rather than purpose on several other occasions (see, e.g., 7:18, 19; 27:10, 15; 32:29).

[25:7]  ³² tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[34:14]  ³³ sn Compare Deut 15:12-18 for the complete statement of this law. Here only the first part of it is cited.

[34:15]  ³⁴ tn The presence of the independent pronoun in the Hebrew text is intended to contrast their actions with those of their ancestors.

[34:15]  ³⁵ sn This refers to the temple. See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 and see the translator’s note on 7:10 and the study note on 10:25 for the explanation of the idiom involved here.

[34:16]  ³⁶ sn The verb at the beginning of v. 15 and v. 16 are the same in the Hebrew. They had two changes of heart (Heb “you turned”), one that was pleasing to him (Heb “right in his eyes”) and one that showed they did not honor him (Heb “profaned [or belittled] his name”).

[34:16]  ³⁷ sn Heb “you profaned my name.” His name had been invoked in the oath confirming the covenant. Breaking the covenant involved taking his name in vain (cf. Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11; Jer 5:2). Hence the one who bore the name was not treated with the special honor and reverence due him (see the study note on 23:27 for the significance of “name” in the OT).

[34:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and you brought them into subjection to be to you for male and female slaves.” See the translator’s note on v. 11 for the same redundant repetition which is not carried over into the contemporary English sentence.

[34:17]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text has a compound object, the two terms of which have been synonyms in vv. 14, 15. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 189) make the interesting observation that these two terms (Heb “brother” and “neighbor”) emphasize the relationships that should have taken precedence over their being viewed as mere slaves.

[34:17]  ⁴⁰ sn This is, of course, a metaphorical and ironical use of the term “to grant freedom to.” It is, however, a typical statement of the concept of talionic justice which is quite often operative in God’s judgments in the OT (cf., e.g., Obad 15).

[34:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[34:17]  ⁴² sn Compare Jer 15:4; 24:9; 29:18.

[14:11]  ⁴³ tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.

[14:11]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.

[14:2]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord.

[14:2]  ⁴⁶ tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.

[14:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “died.”

[36:1]  ⁴⁸ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ⁴⁹ tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”

[36:1]  ⁵¹ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ⁵² tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ⁵³ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”