Jeremiah 7:9

7:9 You steal. ¹  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ²  other gods whom you have not previously known.

Jeremiah 11:13

11:13 This is in spite of the fact that ³  the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns ⁴  and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ ⁵ 

Jeremiah 11:17

11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, ⁶  planted you in the land, ⁷ 

I now decree that disaster will come on you ⁸ 

because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil

and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 19:5

19:5 They have built places here ¹⁰  for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices ¹¹  are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

Jeremiah 32:29

32:29 The Babylonian soldiers ¹²  that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops. ¹³ 

[7:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.

[7:9]  ² tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[11:13]  ³ tn This is again an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) contextually. The nuance is a little hard to establish due to the nature of the rhetoric of the passage which utilizes the figure of apostrophe where the Lord turns from talking about Judah to addressing her directly, probably in condemnatory tones. Something like “the very idea that you should…” might best represent the mood. The כִּי is probably asseverative or intensive (cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e).

[11:13]  ⁴ sn Cf. Jer 2:28.

[11:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “For [or Indeed] the number of your [sing.] cities are your [sing.] gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [or perhaps (your) streets, Jerusalem] you [plur.] have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to sacrifice to Baal.” This passage involves a figure of speech where the speaker turns from describing something about someone to addressing him/her directly (a figure called apostrophe). This figure is not common in contemporary English literature or conversation and translating literally would lead to confusion on the part of some readers. Hence, the translation retains the third person in keeping with the rest of the context. The shift from singular “your cities” to plural “you have set up” is interpreted contextually to refer to a shift in addressing Judah to addressing the citizens of Jerusalem whose streets are being talked about. The appositional clause, “altars to sacrifice to Baal” has been collapsed with the preceding clause to better identify what the shameful thing is and to eliminate a complex construction. The length of this sentence runs contrary to the usual practice of breaking up long complex sentences in Hebrew into shorter equivalent ones in English. However, breaking up this sentence and possibly losing the connecting link with the preceding used to introduce it might lead to misunderstanding.

[11:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:17]  ⁶ tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term Lord of armies has been rendered this sentence has been restructured to avoid confusion in English style.

[11:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[19:5]  ⁷ tn The word “here” is not in the text. However, it is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  ⁸ tn The words “such sacrifices” are not in the text. The text merely says “to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal which I did not command.” The command obviously refers not to the qualification “to Baal” but to burning the children in the fire as burnt offerings. The words are supplied in the translation to avoid a possible confusion that the reference is to sacrifices to Baal. Likewise the words should not be translated so literally that they leave the impression that God never said anything about sacrificing their children to other gods. The fact is he did. See Lev 18:21; Deut 12:30; 18:10.

[32:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:29]  ¹⁰ sn Compare Jer 19:13.