Jeremiah 7:5

7:5 You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

Jeremiah 1:12

1:12 Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means ³  I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 2:33

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ⁵ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 13:23

13:23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good,

you who are so accustomed to doing evil.

Can an Ethiopian ⁷  change the color of his skin?

Can a leopard remove its spots? ⁸ 

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ⁹ 

“This will happen ¹⁰  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ¹¹ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 7:3

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹²  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹³  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 18:10

18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Jeremiah 26:13

26:13 But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹⁵  Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 32:40

32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ¹⁷  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ¹⁸  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ¹⁹  they will never again turn ²⁰  away from me.

Jeremiah 38:20

38:20 Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. ²¹  Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared. ²² 

Jeremiah 7:23

7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: ²³  “Obey me. If you do, I ²⁴  will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you ²⁵  and things will go well with you.”

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.” ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ²⁷  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ²⁸  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ²⁹  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ³⁰ 

Jeremiah 40:9

40:9 Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. ³¹  “Do not be afraid to submit to the Babylonians. ³²  Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.

Jeremiah 42:6

42:6 We will obey what the Lord our God to whom we are sending you tells us to do. It does not matter whether we like what he tells us or not. We will obey what he tells us to do so that things will go well for us.” ³³ 

Jeremiah 35:15

35:15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said, “Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. ³⁴  Do not pay allegiance to other gods ³⁵  and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.

[7:5]  ¹ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:5]  ² tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[1:12]  ³ tn This represents the Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) that is normally rendered “for” or “because.” The particle here is meant to give the significance of the vision, not the rationale for the statement “you have observed correctly.”

[1:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “watching over my word to do it.”

[2:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

[2:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

[13:23]  ⁷ tn This is a common proverb in English coming from this biblical passage. For cultures where it is not proverbial perhaps it would be better to translate “Can black people change the color of their skin?” Strictly speaking these are “Cushites” inhabitants of a region along the upper Nile south of Egypt. The Greek text is responsible for the identification with Ethiopia. The term in Greek is actually a epithet = “burnt face.”

[13:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? [Then] you also will be able to do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The English sentence has been restructured and rephrased in an attempt to produce some of the same rhetorical force the Hebrew original has in this context.

[4:22]  ⁹ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ¹² tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[26:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.

[26:13]  ¹⁴ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[32:40]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.

[32:40]  ¹⁶ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.

[32:40]  ¹⁸ tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.

[38:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Please listen to the voice of the Lord with regard to what I have been telling you.” For the idiom “listen to the voice” = “obey” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע 1.m. Obedience here is expressed by following the advice in the qualifying clause, i.e., what I have been telling you.

[38:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your life [or you yourself] will live.” Compare v. 17 and the translator’s note there for the idiom.

[7:23]  ¹⁹ tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.

[7:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.

[7:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”

[10:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

[18:11]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ²⁴ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.

[40:9]  ²⁵ tn The words “so as to give them some assurance of safety” are not in the text but are generally understood by all commentators. This would be a case of substitution of cause for effect, the oath, put for the effect, the assurance of safety (NJPS translates directly “reassured them”).

[40:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[42:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Whether good or whether evil we will hearken to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you in order that it may go well for us because/when we hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.” The phrase “whether good or whether evil” is an abbreviated form of the idiomatic expressions “to be good in the eyes of” = “to be pleasing to” (BDB 374 s.v. טוֹב 2.f and see 1 Kgs 21:2) and “to be bad in the eyes of” = “to be displeasing to” (BDB 948 s.v. רַע 3 and see Num 22:34). The longer Hebrew sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

[35:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Turn, each of you, from his [= your] wicked way and make good your deeds.” Compare 18:11 where the same idiom occurs with the added term of “make good your ways.”

[35:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Don’t go after/follow other gods.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom and see 11:10; 13:10; 25:6 for the same idiom.