Jeremiah 7:7

7:7 If you stop doing these things, ¹  I will allow you to continue to live in this land ²  which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. ³ 

Jeremiah 7:26

7:26 But your ancestors ⁴  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ⁵  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

[7:7]  ¹ tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.

[7:7]  ² tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”

[7:7]  ³ tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”

[7:26]  ⁴ tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”