Jeremiah 6:1

The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem! ¹ 

Sound the trumpet ²  in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks ³  out of the north;

it will bring great destruction. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 6:19

6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth: ⁵ 

‘Take note! ⁶  I am about to bring disaster on these people.

It will come as punishment for their scheming. ⁷ 

For they have paid no attention to what I have said, ⁸ 

and they have rejected my law.

Jeremiah 9:3

The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them

9:3 The Lord says, ⁹ 

“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ¹⁰ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ¹¹ 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ¹² 

and do not pay attention to me. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 11:17

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁴  planted you in the land, ¹⁵ 

I now decree that disaster will come on you ¹⁶ 

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ¹⁸  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ¹⁹  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ²⁰  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ²¹ 

Jeremiah 19:3

19:3 Say, ‘Listen to what the Lord says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! ²²  The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²³  says, “I will bring a disaster on this place ²⁴  that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring! ²⁵ 

Jeremiah 26:19

26:19 King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the Lord and seek the Lord’s favor? ²⁶  Did not ²⁷  the Lord forgo destroying them ²⁸  as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 44:7

44:7 “So now the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, ³⁰  asks, ‘Why will you do such great harm to yourselves? Why should every man, woman, child, and baby of yours be destroyed from the midst of Judah? Why should you leave yourselves without a remnant?

Jeremiah 45:5

45:5 Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the Lord, affirm ³¹  that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. ³²  But I will allow you to escape with your life ³³  wherever you go.”’”

Jeremiah 49:19

49:19 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan ³⁴ 

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. ³⁵ 

So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. ³⁶ 

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. ³⁷ 

For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. ³⁸ 

There is no ³⁹  ruler ⁴⁰  who can stand up against me.

Jeremiah 49:37

49:37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,

who are seeking to kill them.

I will vent my fierce anger

and bring disaster upon them,” ⁴¹  says the Lord. ⁴² 

“I will send armies chasing after them ⁴³ 

until I have completely destroyed them.

Jeremiah 50:44

50:44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.

So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land.

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.

For there is no one like me.

There is no one who can call me to account.

There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

[6:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”

[6:1]  ² tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[6:1]  ³ tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.

[6:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “earth.”

[6:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”

[6:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “my word.”

[9:3]  ⁹ tn The words “The Lord says” have been moved up from the end of the verse to make clear that a change in speaker has occurred.

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ¹² tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ¹³ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).

[11:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:17]  ¹⁴ tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term Lord of armies has been rendered this sentence has been restructured to avoid confusion in English style.

[11:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[18:11]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ¹⁸ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.

[19:3]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[19:3]  ²² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[19:3]  ²³ sn Careful comparison of the use of this term throughout this passage and comparison with 7:31-33 which is parallel to several verses in this passage will show that the reference is to the Valley of Ben Hinnom which will become a Valley of Slaughter (see v. 6 and 7:32).

[19:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “which everyone who hears it [or about it] his ears will ring.” This is proverbial for a tremendous disaster. See 1 Sam 3:11; 2 Kgs 21:12 for similar prophecies.

[26:19]  ²⁵ tn This Hebrew idiom (חָלָה פָּנִים, khalah panim) is often explained in terms of “stroking” or “patting the face” of someone, seeking to gain his favor. It is never used in a literal sense and is found in contexts of prayer (Exod 32:11; Ps 119:158), worship (Zech 8:21-22), humble submission (2 Chr 3:12), or amendment of behavior (Dan 9:13). All were true to one extent or another of Hezekiah.

[26:19]  ²⁶ tn The he interrogative (הַ)with the negative governs all three of the verbs, the perfect and the two vav (ו) consecutive imperfects that follow it. The next clause has disjunctive word order and introduces a contrast. The question expects a positive answer.

[26:19]  ²⁷ tn For the translation of the terms involved here see the translator’s note on 18:8.

[26:19]  ²⁸ tn Or “great harm to ourselves.” The word “disaster” (or “harm”) is the same one that has been translated “destroying” in the preceding line and in vv. 3 and 13.

[44:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh, the God of armies, the God of Israel.” Compare 35:17; 38:17 and for the title “God of armies” see the study note on 2:19.

[45:5]  ³³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[45:5]  ³⁴ sn Compare Jer 25:31, 33. The reference here to universal judgment also forms a nice transition to the judgments on the nations that follow in Jer 46-51 which may be another reason for the placement of this chapter here, out of its normal chronological order (see also the study note on v. 1).

[45:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “I will give you your life for a spoil.” For this idiom see the translator’s note on 21:9 and compare the usage in 21:9; 38:2; 39:18.

[49:19]  ³⁷ tn See the study note on Jer 12:5 for the rendering of this term.

[49:19]  ³⁸ tn “The pasture-ground on the everflowing river” according to KBL 42 s.v. I אֵיתָן 1. The “everflowing river” refers to the Jordan.

[49:19]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Behold, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan into the pastureland of everflowing water so [reading כֵּן (ken) for כִּי (ki); or “indeed” (reading כִּי as an asseverative particle with J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 719, n. 6)] I will suddenly chase him [Edom] from upon it [the land].” The sentence has been restructured to better conform with contemporary English style and the significance of the simile drawn from the comparison has been spelled out for the sake of clarity. The form אַרְגִּיעָה (’argi’ah) is functioning here as an adverbial modifier in a verbal hendiadys (cf. GKC 386 §120.g).

[49:19]  ⁴⁰ tn For the use of the interrogative מִי (mi) in the sense of “whoever” and functioning like an adjective see BDB 567 s.v. מִי g and compare the usage in Prov 9:4, 16.

[49:19]  ⁴¹ tn For the meaning of this verb in the sense of “arraign” or “call before the bar of justice” compare Job 9:19 and see BDB 417 s.v. יָעַד Hiph.

[49:19]  ⁴² tn The interrogative מִי (mi) is rendered “there is no one” in each of the last three occurrences in this verse because it is used in a rhetorical question that expects the answer “no one” or “none” and is according to BDB 566 s.v. מִי f(c) equivalent to a rhetorical negative.

[49:19]  ⁴³ tn The word “shepherd” (רֹעֶה, ro’eh) has been used often in the book of Jeremiah to refer metaphorically to the ruler or leader (cf. BDB 945 s.v. I רָעָה Qal.1.d(2) and compare usage, e.g., in Jer 2:8; 23:1).

[49:37]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger.”

[49:37]  ⁴² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:37]  ⁴³ tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.”