Jeremiah 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, ¹ 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ² 

Let us at least die there fighting, ³ 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁴ 

because we have sinned against him. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 30:11

30:11 For I, the Lord, affirm ⁶  that

I will be with you and will rescue you.

I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you.

But I will not completely destroy you.

I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure.

I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 43:12

43:12 He will set fire ⁸  to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their gods or carry them off as captives. ⁹  He will pick Egypt clean like a shepherd picks the lice from his clothing. ¹⁰  He will leave there unharmed. ¹¹ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ² tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

[8:14]  ³ tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

[8:14]  ⁴ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

[8:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

[30:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:11]  ⁷ tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[43:12]  ¹¹ tc The translation follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads: “I will set fire to.” While it would be possible to explain the first person subject here in the same way as in the two verbs in v. 12b, the corruption of the Hebrew text is easy to explain here as a metathesis of two letters, י (yod) and ת (tav). The Hebrew reads הִצַּתִּי (hitsatti) and the versions presuppose הִצִּית (hitsit).

[43:12]  ¹² tn Heb “burn them or carry them off as captives.” Some of the commentaries and English versions make a distinction between the objects of the verbs, i.e., burn the temples and carry off the gods. However, the burning down of the temples is referred to later in v. 13.

[43:12]  ¹³ tn Or “he will take over Egypt as easily as a shepherd wraps his cloak around him.” The translation follows the interpretation of HALOT 769 s.v. II ָעטָה Qal, the Greek translation, and a number of the modern commentaries (e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 671). The only other passage where that translation is suggested for this verb is Isa 22:17 according to HAL. The alternate translation follows the more normal meaning of עָטָה (’atah; cf. BDB 741 s.v. I עָטָה Qal which explains “so completely will it be in his power”). The fact that the subject is “a shepherd” lends more credence to the former view though there may be a deliberate double meaning playing on the homonyms (cf. W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:302).

[43:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in peace/wholeness/well-being/safety [shalom].”