Jeremiah 50:23

50:23 Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces.

But see how that ‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! ¹ 

See what an object of horror

Babylon has become among the nations!

Jeremiah 51:41

51:41 “See how Babylon ²  has been captured!

See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken!

See what an object of horror

Babylon has become among the nations! ³ 

Jeremiah 48:39

48:39 Oh, how shattered Moab will be!

Oh, how her people will wail!

Oh, how she will turn away ⁴  in shame!

Moab will become an object of ridicule,

a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”

Jeremiah 48:14

48:14 How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes,

men who are mighty in battle?’

Jeremiah 49:25

49:25 How deserted will that once-famous city ⁵  be,

that city that was once filled with ⁶  joy! ⁷ 

Jeremiah 47:7

47:7 But how can it rest ⁸ 

when I, the Lord, have ⁹  given it orders?

I have ordered it to attack

the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 2:23

2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.

I have not paid allegiance to ¹¹  the gods called Baal.’

Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ¹² 

Think about the things you have done there!

You are like a flighty, young female camel

that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 9:7

9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, ¹⁴ 

“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction ¹⁵  and test them.

The wickedness of my dear people ¹⁶  has left me no choice.

What else can I do? ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 9:19

9:19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.

They will wail, ¹⁸  ‘We are utterly ruined! ¹⁹  We are completely disgraced!

For our houses have been torn down

and we must leave our land.’” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 36:17

36:17 Then they asked Baruch, “How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” ²¹ 

Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, ²² 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ²³ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ²⁴  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ²⁵ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ²⁶ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ²⁷ 

[50:23]  ¹ tn Heb “How broken and shattered is the hammer of all the earth!” The “hammer” is a metaphor for Babylon who was God’s war club to shatter the nations and destroy kingdoms just like Assyria is represented in Isa 10:5 as a rod and a war club. Some readers, however, might not pick up on the metaphor or identify the referent, so the translation has incorporated an identification of the metaphor and the referent within it. “See how” and “See what” are an attempt to capture the nuance of the Hebrew particle אֵיךְ (’ekh) which here expresses an exclamation of satisfaction in a taunt song (cf. BDB 32 s.v. אֵיךְ 2 and compare usage in Isa 14:4, 12; Jer 50:23).

[51:41]  ² sn Heb “Sheshach.” For an explanation of the usage of this name for Babylon see the study note on Jer 25:26 and that on 51:1 for a similar phenomenon. Babylon is here called “the pride of the whole earth” because it was renowned for its size, its fortifications, and its beautiful buildings.

[51:41]  ³ tn Heb “How Sheshach has been captured, the pride of the whole earth has been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!” For the usage of “How” here see the translator’s note on 50:23.

[48:39]  ³ tn Heb “turn her back.”

[49:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “city of praise.”

[49:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “city of joy.”

[49:25]  ⁶ tc Or “Why has that famous city not been abandoned, that city I once took delight in?” The translation follows the majority of modern commentaries in understanding לֹא (lo’, “not”) before “abandoned” as a misunderstanding of the emphatic ל (lamed; so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 723, n. 3, and J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 333, n. c; see also IBHS 211-12 §11.2.10i and HALOT 485-86 s.v. II לְ for the phenomenon). The particle is missing from the Vulgate. The translation also follows the versions in omitting the suffix on the word “joy” that is found in the Hebrew text (see BHS note b for a listing of the versions). This gives a better connection with the preceding and the following verse than the alternate translation.

[47:7]  ⁵ tn The reading here follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads “how can you rest” as a continuation of the second person in v. 6.

[47:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “When the Lord has.” The first person is again adopted because the Lord has been speaking.

[47:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “Against Ashkelon and the sea coast, there he has appointed it.” For the switch to the first person see the preceding translator’s note. “There” is poetical and redundant and the idea of “attacking” is implicit in “against.”

[2:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “I have not gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for the meaning and usage of this idiom.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Look at your way in the valley.” The valley is an obvious reference to the Valley of Hinnom where Baal and Molech were worshiped and child sacrifice was practiced.

[2:23]  ⁸ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the Lord’s control.

[9:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will refine/purify them.” The words “in the fires of affliction” are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor.

[9:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[9:7]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “For how else shall I deal because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.” The MT does not have the word “wickedness.” The word, however, is read in the Greek version. This is probably a case of a word dropping out because of its similarities to the consonants preceding or following it (i.e., haplography). The word “wickedness” (רַעַת, ra’at) has dropped out before the words “my dear people” (בַּת־עַמִּי, bat-’ammi). The causal nuance which is normal for מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne) does not make sense without some word like this, and the combination of רַעַת מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne ra’at) does occur in Jer 7:12 and one very like it occurs in Jer 26:3.

[9:19]  ⁸ tn The words “They will wail” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to make clear that this is the wailing that will be heard.

[9:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “How we are ruined!”

[9:19]  ¹⁰ tn The order of these two lines has been reversed for English stylistic reasons. The text reads in Hebrew “because we have left our land because they have thrown down our dwellings.” The two clauses offer parallel reasons for the cries “How ruined we are! [How] we are greatly disgraced!” But the first line must contain a prophetic perfect (because the lament comes from Jerusalem) and the second a perfect referring to a destruction that is itself future. This seems the only way to render the verse that would not be misleading.

[36:17]  ⁹ tn Or “Did Jeremiah dictate them to you?” The words “Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” assume that the last phrase (מִפִּיו, mippiv) is a question, either without the formal he (הֲ) interrogative (see GKC 473 §150.a and compare usage in 1 Sam 16:4; Prov 5:16) or with a letter supplied from the end of the preceding word (single writing of a letter following the same letter [haplography]; so the majority of modern commentaries). The word is missing in the Greek version. The presence of this same word at the beginning of the answer in the next verse suggests that this was a question (probably without the he [הֲ] interrogative to make it more emphatic) since the common way to answer affirmatively is to repeat the emphatic word in the question (cf. GKC 476 §150.n and compare usage in Gen 24:58). The intent of the question is to make sure that these were actually Jeremiah’s words not Baruch’s own creation (cf. Jer 42:2-3 for a similar suspicion).

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

[3:19]  ¹² tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

[3:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my father.”

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”