Jeremiah 9:22-26
Context9:22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says,
“The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere
like manure scattered on a field.
They will lie scattered on the ground
like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” 1
“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.
Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. 3
Rich people should not boast that they are rich. 4
9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,” 5
says the Lord.
9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! 6 The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. 7 9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. 8 I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. 9 Moreover, none of the people of Israel 10 are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” 11
[9:22] 1 tn Or “‘Death has climbed…city squares. And the dead bodies of people lie scattered…They lie scattered…but has not been gathered.’ The
[9:23] 2 sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the
[9:23] 3 tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”
[9:23] 4 tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”
[9:24] 5 tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the
[9:25] 7 tn Heb “punish all who are circumcised in the flesh.” The translation is contextually motivated to better bring out the contrast that follows.
[9:26] 8 tn Heb “all those who are cut off on the side of the head who live in the desert.” KJV and some other English versions (e.g., NIV “who live in the desert in distant places”; NLT “who live in distant places”) have followed the interpretation that this is a biform of an expression meaning “end or remote parts of the [far] corners [of the earth].” This interpretation is generally abandoned by the more recent commentaries and lexicons (see, e.g. BDB 802 s.v. פֵּאָה 1 and HALOT 858 s.v. פֵּאָה 1.β). It occurs also in 25:33; 49:32.
[9:26] 9 tn Heb “For all of these nations are uncircumcised.” The words “I will do so” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection with the preceding statement.
[9:26] 10 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
[9:26] 11 tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”