Jeremiah 6:6

6:6 All of this is because ¹  the Lord who rules over all ²  has said:

‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem

and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ³ 

This is the city which is to be punished. ⁴ 

Nothing but oppression happens in it. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 7:34

7:34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

Jeremiah 15:10

Jeremiah Complains about His Lot and The Lord Responds

15:10 I said, ⁶ 

“Oh, mother, how I regret ⁷  that you ever gave birth to me!

I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ⁸ 

I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.

Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 25:10

25:10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. ¹⁰  I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 48:31

48:31 So I will weep with sorrow for Moab.

I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab.

I will moan ¹²  for the people of Kir Heres.

Jeremiah 48:38

48:38 On all the housetops in Moab

and in all its public squares

there will be nothing but mourning.

For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹³ 

Jeremiah 50:13

50:13 After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹⁴ 

It will be totally desolate.

All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn

because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ¹⁵ 

[6:6]  ¹ tn Heb “For.” The translation attempts to make the connection clearer.

[6:6]  ² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:6]  ³ tn Heb “Cut down its trees and build up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.” The referent has been moved forward from the second line for clarity.

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Or “must be punished.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The LXX reads, “Woe, city of falsehood!” The MT presents two anomalies: a masculine singular verb with a feminine singular subject in a verbal stem (Hophal) that elsewhere does not have the meaning “is to be punished.” Hence many follow the Greek which presupposes הוֹי עִיר הַשֶּׁקֶר (hoy ’ir hasheqer) instead of הִיא הָעִיר הָפְקַד (hi’ ha’ir hofqad). The Greek is the easier reading in light of the parallelism, and it would be hard to explain how the MT arose from it. KBL suggests reading a noun meaning “licentiousness” which occurs elsewhere only in Mishnaic Hebrew, hence “this is the city, the licentious one” (attributive apposition; cf. KBL 775 s.v. פֶּקֶר). Perhaps the Hophal perfect (הָפְקַד, hofÿqad) should be revocalized as a Niphal infinitive absolute (הִפָּקֹד, hippaqod); this would solve both anomalies in the MT since the Niphal is used in this nuance and the infinitive absolute can function in place of a finite verb (cf. GKC 346 §113.ee and ff). This, however, is mere speculation and is supported by no Hebrew ms.

[6:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “All of it oppression in its midst.”

[15:10]  ⁶ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to mark a shift in the speaker.

[15:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Woe to me, my mother.” See the comments on 4:13 and 10:19.

[15:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “A man of strife and a man of contention with all the land.” The “of” relationship (Hebrew and Greek genitive) can convey either subjective or objective relationships, i.e., he instigates strife and contention or he is the object of it. A study of usage elsewhere, e.g., Isa 41:11; Job 31:35; Prov 12:19; 25:24; 26:21; 27:15, is convincing that it is subjective. In his role as God’s covenant messenger charging people with wrong doing he has instigated counterarguments and stirred about strife and contention against him.

[15:10]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the almost universally agreed upon correction of the MT. Instead of reading כֻּלֹּה מְקַלְלַונִי (kulloh mÿqallavni, “all of him is cursing me”) as the Masoretes proposed (Qere) one should read קִלְלוּנִי (qilluni) with the written text (Kethib) and redivide and repoint with the suggestion in BHS כֻּלְּהֶם (qullÿhem, “all of them are cursing me”).

[25:10]  ¹¹ sn Compare Jer 7:24 and 16:9 for this same dire prediction limited to Judah and Jerusalem.

[25:10]  ¹² sn The sound of people grinding meal and the presence of lamps shining in their houses were signs of everyday life. The Lord is going to make these lands desolate (v. 11) destroying all signs of life. (The statement is, of course, hyperbolic or poetic exaggeration; even after the destruction of Jerusalem many people were left in the land.) For these same descriptions of everyday life applying to the end of life see the allegory in Eccl 12:3-6.

[48:31]  ¹⁶ tc The translation is based on the emendation of the Hebrew third masculine singular (יֶהְגֶּה, yehggeh) to the first singular (אֶהְגֶּה, ’ehgeh). This emendation is assumed by almost all of the modern English versions and commentaries even though the textual evidence for it is weak (only one Hebrew ms and the Eastern Qere according to BHS).

[48:38]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[50:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “From [or Because of] the wrath of the Lord it will be uninhabited.” The causal connection is spelled out more clearly and actively and the first person has been used because the speaker is the Lord. The referent “it” has been spelled out clearly from the later occurrence in the verse, “all who pass by Babylon.”

[50:13]  ²⁷ sn Compare Jer 49:17 and the study note there and see also the study notes on 18:16 and 19:8.