Jeremiah 7:10-11

7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ²  7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ³  is to be a hideout for robbers? ⁴  You had better take note! ⁵  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:14

7:14 So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ⁶  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ⁷  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 7:30

7:30 The Lord says, “I have rejected them because ⁹  the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. ¹⁰  They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple ¹¹  which I have claimed for my own ¹²  and have defiled it.

Jeremiah 18:8

18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ¹³  I will cancel the destruction ¹⁴  I intended to do to it.

Jeremiah 39:12

39:12 “Find Jeremiah ¹⁵  and look out for him. ¹⁶  Do not do anything to harm him, ¹⁷  but do with him whatever he tells you.”

Jeremiah 49:8

49:8 Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places, ¹⁸ 

you people who live in Dedan. ¹⁹ 

For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau.

I have decided it is time for me to punish them. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 51:63

51:63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. ²¹ 

[7:10]  ¹ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ² tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[7:11]  ³ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 25, 26).

[7:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will do to this house which I…in which you put…and to this place which…as I did to Shiloh.”

[7:30]  ⁷ tn The words “I have rejected them” are not in the Hebrew text, which merely says “because.” These words are supplied in the translation to show more clearly the connection to the preceding.

[7:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “have done the evil in my eyes.”

[7:30]  ⁹ sn Compare, e.g., 2 Kgs 21:3, 5, 7; 23:4, 6; Ezek 8:3, 5, 10-12, 16. Manasseh had desecrated the temple by building altars, cult symbols, and idols in it. Josiah had purged the temple of these pagan elements. But it is obvious from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel that they had been replaced shortly after Josiah’s death. They were a primary cause of Judah’s guilt and punishment (see beside this passage, 19:5; 32:34-35).

[7:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the house which is called by my name.” Cf. 7:10, 11, 14 and see the translator’s note 7:10 for the explanation for this rendering.

[18:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ¹⁰ tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.

[39:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Get [or fetch] him.” The referent is supplied for clarity.

[39:12]  ¹² tn Or “take care of him”; Heb “set your eyes on him.” For the meaning of this idiom see BDB 963 s.v. שִׂים 2.c and compare 24:6 where the phrase “for good” is added.

[39:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Don’t do anything evil [= harmful] to him.”

[49:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “make deep to dwell.” The meaning of this phrase is debated. Some take it as a reference for the Dedanites who were not native to Edom to go down from the heights of Edom and go back home (so G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 330). The majority of commentaries, however, take it as a reference to the Dedanites disassociating themselves from the Edomites and finding remote hiding places to live in (so J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 718). For the options see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:375.

[49:8]  ¹⁴ sn Dedan. The Dedanites were an Arabian tribe who lived to the southeast of Edom. They are warned here to disassociate themselves from Edom because Edom is about to suffer disaster.

[49:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “For I will bring the disaster of Esau upon him, the time when I will punish him.” Esau was the progenitor of the tribes and nation of Edom (cf. Gen 36:1, 8, 9, 19).

[51:63]  ¹⁵ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.