Jeremiah 8:4

Willful Disregard of God Will Lead to Destruction

8:4 The Lord said to me, ¹ 

“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,

Do people not get back up when they fall down?

Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ² 

Jeremiah 9:4

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ³ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ⁴ 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Jeremiah 9:8

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ⁵ 

They are always telling lies. ⁶ 

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 18:12

18:12 But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ⁸  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 48:10

48:10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!

A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction! ¹⁰ 

[8:4]  ¹ tn The words “the Lord said to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation to make clear who is speaking and who is being addressed.

[8:4]  ² sn There is a play on two different nuances of the same Hebrew word that means “turn” and “return,” “turn away” and “turn back.”

[9:4]  ³ tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[9:8]  ⁵ tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.

[9:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

[9:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”

[18:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “It is useless!” See the same expression in a similar context in Jer 2:25.

[18:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “We will follow our own plans and do each one according to the stubbornness of his own wicked heart.”

[48:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “who withholds his sword from bloodshed.” This verse is an editorial aside (or apostrophe) addressed to the Babylonian destroyers to be diligent in carrying out the work of the Lord in destroying Moab.