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 18:7

18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, ³  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 32:11

32:11 There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase. ⁵  The other was left unsealed.

Jeremiah 41:4

41:4 On the day after Gedaliah had been murdered, before anyone even knew about it,

Jeremiah 48:40

48:40 For the Lord says,

“Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings

a nation will swoop down on Moab. ⁶ 

[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.

[18:7]  ³ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lord’s words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.

[18:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.

[32:11]  ⁵ tn There is some uncertainty about the precise meaning of the phrases translated “the order of transfer and the regulations.” The translation follows the interpretation suggested by J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 237; J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 586, n. 5; and presumably BDB 349 s.v. חֹק 7, which defines the use of חֹק (khoq) here as “conditions of the deed of purchase.”

[48:40]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold! Like an eagle he will swoop and will spread his wings against Moab.” The sentence has been reordered in English to give a better logical flow and the unidentified “he” has been identified as “a nation.” The nation is, of course, Babylon, but it is nowhere identified so the referent has been left ambiguous.