Jeremiah 9:13-16

9:13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws. ¹  9:14 Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to ²  the gods called Baal, ³  as their fathers ⁴  taught them to do. 9:15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ⁵  say. ⁶  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ⁷  9:16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors ⁸  have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords ⁹  until I have destroyed them.’” ¹⁰ 

[9:13]  ¹ tn Heb “and they have not walked in it (with “it” referring to “my law”).

[9:14]  ² tn Heb “they have gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[9:14]  ³ tn Heb “the Baals,” referring either to the pagan gods called “Baals” or the images of Baal (so NLT).

[9:14]  ⁴ tn Or “forefathers,” or “ancestors.” Here the referent could be the immediate parents or, by their example, more distant ancestors.

[9:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[9:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…” The person is shifted from third to first to better conform with English style.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.

[9:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “fathers.”

[9:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will send the sword after them.” The sword here is probably not completely literal but refers to death by violent means, including death by the sword.

[9:16]  ¹⁰ sn He will destroy them but not completely. See Jer 5:18; 30:11; 46:28.