Jeremiah 9:4

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

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ¹ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ² 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ³  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁴  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ⁵  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ⁶  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ⁷  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ⁸ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ⁹ 

All my so-called friends ¹⁰  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ¹¹ 

They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,

so we can prevail over ¹²  him and get our revenge on him.

Psalms 50:20

50:20 You plot against your brother; ¹³ 

you slander your own brother. ¹⁴ 

[9:4]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[20:10]  ⁷ tn It would be difficult to render accurately the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this verse without lengthening the English line unduly. It probably means something like “This is true even though I…,” i.e., the particle is concessive (cf. BDB s.v. כִּי 2.c). No other nuance seems appropriate. The particle is left out of the translation, but its presence is acknowledged here.

[20:10]  ⁸ tn The phrase translated “Those who would cause me terror are everywhere” has already occurred in 6:25 in the context of the terror caused by the enemy from the north and in 20:3 in reference to the curse pronounced on Pashhur who would experience it first hand. Some have seen the phrase here not as Jeremiah’s ejaculation of terror but of his assailant’s taunts of his message or even their taunting nickname for him. But comparison of this passage with the first two lines of Ps 31:13 (31:14 HT) which are word for word the same as these two will show that it refers to the terror inspired by the plots of his enemies to do away with him. It is also clear from the context of that passage and the following context here that the “whispering of many” (the literal translation of “many whispering words of intrigue against me) refers to intrigues to take vengeance on him and do away with him.

[20:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “Denounce and let us denounce him.” The verb which is translated “denounce” (נָגַד, nagad) does not take an accusative object of person as it does here very often. When it does it usually means to inform someone. The only relevant passage appears to be Job 17:5 where it means something like “denounce.” What is probably involved here are the attempts to portray Jeremiah as a traitor (Jer 26:10) and a false prophet (see his conflict with Hananiah in Jer 28).

[20:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the men of my peace [who are concerned about my welfare].” For this phrase compare Ps 41:9 (41:10 HT); Jer 38:22. It is generally agreed that irony is being invoked here, hence “so-called” is supplied in the translation to bring out the irony.

[20:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “watching my stumbling [for me to stumble].” Metaphorically they were watching for some slip-up that would lead to his downfall. Compare the use in Pss 35:15 and 38:17 (38:18 HT).

[20:10]  ¹² tn All the text says literally is “Perhaps he can be enticed so that we can prevail over him.” However the word “enticed” needs some qualification. As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:479) notes it should probably be read in the context of the “stumbling” (= “something that would lead to my downfall”). Hence “slipping up” has been supplied as an object. It is vague enough to avoid specifics as the original text does but suggests some reference to “something that would lead to my downfall.”

[50:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23).

[50:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”