Jeremiah 6:20

6:20 I take no delight ¹  when they offer up to me ² 

frankincense that comes from Sheba

or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.

I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.

I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ³ 

Jeremiah 14:9

14:9 Why should you be like someone who is helpless, ⁴ 

like a champion ⁵  who cannot save anyone?

You are indeed with us, ⁶ 

and we belong to you. ⁷ 

Do not abandon us!”

Jeremiah 15:18

15:18 Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish?

Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound?

Will you let me down when I need you

like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 27:13

27:13 There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ⁹  or from starvation or disease! ¹⁰  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ¹¹  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 27:17

27:17 Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you ¹²  will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?’” ¹³ 

[6:20]  ¹ tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[6:20]  ² tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ³ tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.

[14:9]  ⁴ tn This is the only time this word occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The lexicons generally take it to mean “confused” or “surprised” (cf., e.g., BDB 187 s.v. דָּהַם). However, the word has been found in a letter from the seventh century in a passage where it must mean something like “be helpless”; see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:433, for discussion and bibliography of an article where this letter is dealt with.

[14:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “mighty man, warrior.” For this nuance see 1 Sam 17:51 where it parallels a technical term used of Goliath used earlier in 17:4, 23.

[14:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in our midst.”

[14:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “Your name is called upon us.” See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 for this idiom with respect to the temple and see the notes on Jer 7:10.

[15:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Will you be to me like a deceptive (brook), like waters which do not last [or are not reliable].”

[27:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

[27:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Why should you and your people die…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer made explicit in the translation, “There is no reason!”

[27:13]  ¹² tn Heb “…disease according to what the Lord spoke concerning the nation that…”

[27:17]  ¹³ tn The imperative with vav (ו) here and in v. 12 after another imperative are a good example of the use of the imperative to introduce a consequence. (See GKC 324-25 §110.f and see Gen 42:18. This is a common verb in this idiom.)

[27:17]  ¹⁴ tn According to E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 954) both this question and the one in v. 13 are examples of rhetorical questions of prohibition / “don’t let this city be made a pile of rubble.”