Jeremiah 6:13

6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all of them practice deceit.

Jeremiah 8:8

8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, ¹  those who teach it ²  have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean. ³ 

Jeremiah 9:5

9:5 One friend deceives another

and no one tells the truth.

These people have trained themselves ⁴  to tell lies.

They do wrong and are unable to repent.

Jeremiah 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters ⁵  will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham. ⁶ 

There is no breath in any of those idols. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 27:10

27:10 Do not listen to them, ⁸  because their prophecies are lies. ⁹  Listening to them will only cause you ¹⁰  to be taken far away from your native land. I will drive you out of your country and you will die in exile. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 27:14

27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve ¹²  the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

Jeremiah 37:14

37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” ¹³  But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

Jeremiah 51:17

51:17 All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

[8:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Surely, behold!”

[8:8]  ² tn Heb “the scribes.”

[8:8]  ³ tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.

[9:5]  ¹ tn Heb “their tongues.” However, this is probably not a natural idiom in contemporary English and the tongue may stand as a part for the whole anyway.

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Every man.” But in the context this is not a reference to all people without exception but to all idolaters. The referent is made explicit for the sake of clarity.

[10:14]  ² tn Or “nothing but a phony god”; Heb “a lie/falsehood.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Heb “There is no breath in them.” The referent is made explicit so that no one will mistakenly take it to refer to the idolaters or goldsmiths.

[27:10]  ¹ tn The words “Don’t listen to them” have been repeated from v. 9a to pick up the causal connection between v. 9a and v. 10 that is formally introduced by a causal particle in v. 10 in the original text.

[27:10]  ² tn Heb “they are prophesying a lie.”

[27:10]  ³ tn Heb “lies will result in your being taken far…” (לְמַעַן [lÿma’an] + infinitive). This is a rather clear case of the particle לְמַעַן introducing result (contra BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. There is no irony in this statement; it is a bold prediction).

[27:10]  ⁴ tn The words “out of your country” are not in the text but are implicit in the meaning of the verb. The words “in exile” are also not in the text but are implicit in the context. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:14]  ¹ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.

[37:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.