Jeremiah 6:21

6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:

‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ² 

Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³ 

Friends and neighbors will die.’

Jeremiah 9:12

9:12 I said, ⁴ 

“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ⁵ 

Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ⁶ 

Why does the land lie in ruins?

Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁷  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁸  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ⁹  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹⁰  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 40:15

40:15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you ¹¹  and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.”

[6:21]  ¹ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle rendered “behold” joined to the first person pronoun.

[6:21]  ² tn Heb “I will put stumbling blocks in front of these people.” In this context the stumbling blocks are the invading armies.

[6:21]  ³ tn The words “and fall to their destruction” are implicit in the metaphor and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:12]  ⁴ tn The words, “I said” are not in the text. It is not clear that a shift in speaker has taken place. However, the words of the verse are very unlikely to be a continuation of the Lord’s threat. It is generally assumed that these are the words of Jeremiah and that a dialogue is going on between him and the Lord in vv. 9-14. That assumption is accepted here.

[9:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Who is the wise man that he may understand this?”

[9:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “And [who is the man] to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may explain it?”

[18:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[40:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Why should he kill you?” However, this is one of those cases listed in BDB 554 s.v. מָה 4.d(b) where it introduces a question introducing rhetorically the reason why something should not be done. In cases like this BDB notes that it approximates the meaning “lest” and is translated in Greek by μήποτε (mhpote) or μή (mh) as the Greek version does here. Hence it is separated from the preceding and translated “otherwise” for the sake of English style.