Jeremiah 7:29

7:29 So, mourn, ¹  you people of this nation. ²  Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject ³  and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 10:5

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 13:10

13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ⁶  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ⁷  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ⁸  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

Jeremiah 14:3

14:3 The leading men of the cities send their servants for water.

They go to the cisterns, ⁹  but they do not find any water there.

They return with their containers ¹⁰  empty.

Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 14:10

14:10 Then the Lord spoke about these people. ¹² 

“They truly ¹³  love to go astray.

They cannot keep from running away from me. ¹⁴ 

So I am not pleased with them.

I will now call to mind ¹⁵  the wrongs they have done ¹⁶ 

and punish them for their sins.”

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹⁷  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 23:15

23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁹ 

have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ²⁰ 

‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering

and drink the poison water of judgment. ²¹ 

For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ²² 

that ungodliness ²³  has spread throughout the land.’”

Jeremiah 32:7

32:7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. He will say to you, “Buy my field at Anathoth because you are entitled ²⁴  as my closest relative to buy it.”’ ²⁵ 

Jeremiah 37:13

37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. ²⁶  There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, ²⁷  who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, ²⁸  “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 44:29

44:29 Moreover the Lord says, ³⁰  ‘I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true. ³¹ 

Jeremiah 49:5

49:5 I will bring terror on you from every side,”

says the Lord God who rules over all. ³² 

“You will be scattered in every direction. ³³ 

No one will gather the fugitives back together.

Jeremiah 49:30

49:30 The Lord says, ³⁴  “Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor. ³⁵ 

Take up refuge in remote places. ³⁶ 

For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you.

He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.” ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 51:6

51:6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. ³⁸ 

Flee to save your lives.

Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.

For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge.

He will pay Babylonia ³⁹  back for what she has done. ⁴⁰ 

Jeremiah 51:64

51:64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments ⁴¹  I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”

The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. ⁴² 

[7:29]  ¹ tn The word “mourn” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation for clarity to explain the significance of the words “Cut your hair and throw it away.”

[7:29]  ² tn The words, “you people of this nation” are not in the text. Many English versions supply, “Jerusalem.” The address shifts from second masculine singular addressing Jeremiah (vv. 27-28a) to second feminine singular. It causes less disruption in the flow of the context to see the nation as a whole addressed here as a feminine singular entity (as, e.g., in 2:19, 23; 3:2, 3; 6:26) than to introduce a new entity, Jerusalem.

[7:29]  ³ tn The verbs here are the Hebrew scheduling perfects. For this use of the perfect see GKC 312 §106.m.

[7:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “the generation of his wrath.”

[10:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[13:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “to listen to my words.”

[13:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[13:10]  ¹¹ tn The structure of this verse is a little unusual. It consists of a subject, “this wicked people” qualified by several “which” clauses preceding a conjunction and a form which would normally be taken as a third person imperative (a Hebrew jussive; וִיהִי, vihi). This construction, called casus pendens by Hebrew grammarians, lays focus on the subject, here calling attention to the nature of Israel’s corruption which makes it rotten and useless to God. See GKC 458 §143.d for other examples of this construction.

[14:3]  ¹³ tn Though the concept of “cisterns” is probably not familiar to some readers, it would be a mistake to translate this word as “well.” Wells have continual sources of water. Cisterns were pits dug in the ground and lined with plaster to hold rain water. The drought had exhausted all the water in the cisterns.

[14:3]  ¹⁴ tn The word “containers” is a generic word in Hebrew = “vessels.” It would probably in this case involve water “jars” or “jugs.” But since in contemporary English one would normally associate those terms with smaller vessels, “containers” may be safer.

[14:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they cover their heads.” Some of the English versions have gone wrong here because of the “normal” use of the words translated here “disappointed” and “dismayed.” They are regularly translated “ashamed” and “disgraced, humiliated, dismayed” elsewhere (see e.g., Jer 22:22); they are somewhat synonymous terms which are often parallel or combined. The key here, however, is the expression “they cover their heads” which is used in 2 Sam 15:30 for the expression of grief. Moreover, the word translated here “disappointed” (בּוֹשׁ, bosh) is used that way several times. See for example Jer 12:13 and consult examples in BDB 101 s.v. בּוֹשׁ Qal.2. A very similar context with the same figure is found in Jer 2:36-37.

[14:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Thus said the Lord concerning this people.”

[14:10]  ¹⁸ tn It is difficult to be certain how the particle כֵּן (ken, usually used for “thus, so”) is to be rendered here. BDB 485 s.v. כֵּן 1.b says that the force sometimes has to be elicited from the general context and points back to the line of v. 9. IHBS 666 §39.3.4e states that when there is no specific comparative clause preceding a general comparison is intended. They point to Judg 5:31 as a parallel. Ps 127:2 may also be an example if כִּי (ki) is not to be read (cf. BHS fn). “Truly” seemed the best way to render this idea in contemporary English.

[14:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “They do not restrain their feet.” The idea of “away from me” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “remember.”

[14:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “their iniquities.”

[16:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ²² tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[23:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…concerning the prophets.” The person is shifted to better conform with English style and the word “of Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation to avoid the possible misunderstanding that the judgment applies to the prophets of Samaria who had already been judged long before.

[23:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” For these same words of judgment on another group see 9:15 (9:14 HT). “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.

[23:15]  ²⁸ tn The compound preposition מֵאֵת (me’et) expresses source or origin (see BDB 86 s.v. אֵת 4.c). Context shows that the origin is in their false prophesying which encourages people in their evil behavior.

[23:15]  ²⁹ sn A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the Lord’s criticism of the prophet and priest. This is a common rhetorical device for bracketing material that belongs together. The criticism has, however, focused on the false prophets and the judgment due them.

[32:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your right.” The term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here and in v. 8 refers to legal entitlement for the option to purchase a property (BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 5; cf. Deut 21:17).

[32:7]  ³⁰ sn Underlying this request are the laws of redemption of property spelled out in Lev 25:25-34 and illustrated in Ruth 4:3-4. Under these laws, if a property owner became impoverished and had to sell his land, the nearest male relative had the right and duty to buy it so that it would not pass out of the use of the extended family. The land, however, would not actually belong to Jeremiah because in the year of Jubilee it reverted to its original owner. All Jeremiah was actually buying was the right to use it (Lev 25:13-17). Buying the field, thus, did not make any sense (thus Jeremiah’s complaint in v. 25) other than the fact that the Lord intended to use Jeremiah’s act as a symbol of a restored future in the land.

[37:13]  ³³ sn The Benjamin Gate would have been a gate in the northern wall leading out toward the territory of Benjamin. It is mentioned only here and in Jer 38:7 and Zech 14:10.

[37:13]  ³⁴ sn Nothing further is known about Irijah. It is generally agreed that the Hananiah mentioned here is not the same as the false prophet of the same name whom Jeremiah confronted approximately six years earlier (28:1, 5, 10, 15).

[37:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And he was in the gate of Benjamin and there was an officer of the guard whose name [more literally, and his name] was Irijah…and he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying.” The sentence has been broken down and simplified to better conform with contemporary English style.

[37:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[44:29]  ³⁷ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[44:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “This will be to you the sign, oracle of the Lord, that I will punish you in this place in order that you may know that my threats against you for evil/disaster/harm will certainly stand [see the translator’s note on the preceding verse for the meaning of this word here].” The word “sign” refers to an event that is a pre-omen or portent of something that will happen later (see BDB 16 s.v. אוֹת 2 and compare usage in 1 Sam 14:10; 2 Kgs 19:29). The best way to carry that idea across in this context seems to be “I will make something happen to prove [or portend].” Another possibility would be “I will give you a pre-omen that,” but many readers would probably not be familiar with “omen/pre-omen.” Again the sentence has been broken in two and restructured to better conform with English style.

[49:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “The Lord Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of the rendering here and of the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[49:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “You will be scattered each man [straight] before him.”

[49:30]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:30]  ⁴⁶ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[49:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Make deep to dwell.” See Jer 49:8 and the translator’s note there. The use of this same phrase here argues against the alternative there of going down from a height and going back home.

[49:30]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “has counseled a counsel against you, has planned a plan against you.”

[51:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “you foreign people” are not in the text and many think the referent is the exiles of Judah. While this is clearly the case in v. 45 the referent seems broader here where the context speaks of every man going to his own country (v. 9).

[51:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “her.”

[51:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “paying to her a recompense [i.e., a payment in kind].”

[51:64]  ⁵³ tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:64]  ⁵⁴ sn The final chapter of the book of Jeremiah does not mention Jeremiah or record any of his prophecies.