Joshua 14:10-11

14:10 So now, look, the Lord has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the Lord spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old. 14:11 Today I am still as strong as when Moses sent me out. I can fight and go about my daily activities with the same energy I had then. ¹ 

Psalms 71:9

71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! ² 

When my strength fails, do not abandon me!

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ³ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ⁴ 

Psalms 73:26

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ⁵ 

but God always ⁶  protects my heart and gives me stability. ⁷ 

Ecclesiastes 12:3

12:3 when those who keep watch over the house ⁸  begin to tremble, ⁹ 

and the virile men begin to stoop over, ¹⁰ 

and the grinders ¹¹  begin to cease because they grow few,

and those who look through the windows grow dim, ¹² 

Isaiah 40:28-30

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth. ¹³ 

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom. ¹⁴ 

40:29 He gives strength to those who are tired;

to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 9:23-24

9:23 ¹⁶ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹⁷ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹⁸ 

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,” ¹⁹ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ²⁰  I wish that my head were a well full of water ²¹ 

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people ²²  who have been killed.

Jeremiah 1:1

The Superscription

1:1 The following is a record of what Jeremiah son of Hilkiah prophesied. ²³  He was one of the priests who lived at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

Jeremiah 1:1

The Superscription

1:1 The following is a record of what Jeremiah son of Hilkiah prophesied. ²⁴  He was one of the priests who lived at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

[14:11]  ¹ tn Heb “like my strength then, like my strength now, for battle and for going out and coming in.”

[71:9]  ² tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”

[71:18]  ³ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[73:26]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

[73:26]  ⁶ tn Or “forever.”

[73:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the watchers of the house.”

[12:3]  ⁹ tn The verb זְוּעַ (zÿua’, “to tremble”) probably does not refer to physical tremors but to trembling in fear (e.g., Esth 5:9; Hab 2:7; Sir 48:12); cf. HALOT 267 s.v. זוע). At the onset of old age, those who had been the most courageous during their youth suddenly become fearful.

[12:3]  ¹⁰ tn The verb עָוַת (’avat, “to bend; to stoop”) means “to be stooped” (HALOT 804 s.v. עות) rather than “to bend themselves” (BDB 736 s.v. עות). The perfect tense may be taken in an ingressive sense (“begin to stoop over”).

[12:3]  ¹¹ tn The term הַטֹּחֲנוֹת (hattokhanot, Qal active participle feminine plural from טָחַן, takhan, “to grind”) is a double entendre. In its literal sense, it refers to female mill-grinders; in its figurative sense, it refers to molar teeth (HALOT 374 s.v. *טֹחֲנָה). The related Hebrew noun טַחֲנָה (takhanah) refers to a “mill,” and the related Arabic noun tahinat means “molar tooth” (HALOT 374 s.v. *טַחֲנָה).

[12:3]  ¹² tn The verb חָשַׁךְ (khashakh, “to grow dim”) is used elsewhere in reference to failing eyesight (e.g., Ps 69:24; Lam 5:17); see HALOT 361 s.v. חשׁך 2. Therefore, the phrase “those who look through the windows” is probably a figurative description of the eyes, picturing failing eyesight at the onset of old age.

[40:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[40:28]  ¹⁴ sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

[40:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.

[9:23]  ¹⁶ 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 Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[9:24]  ¹⁹ 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 Lord, do faithfulness, justice, and righteousness in the earth for/that I delight in these.” It is uncertain whether the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) before the clause “I delight in these things” is parallel to the כִּי introducing the clause “that I, the Lord, act…” or causal giving the grounds for the Lord acting the way he does. In the light of the contrasts in the passage and the emphasis that Jeremiah has placed on obedience to the covenant and ethical conduct in conjunction with real allegiance to the Lord not mere lip service, it is probable that the clauses are parallel. For the use of כִּי to introduce clauses of further definition after a direct object as here see GKC 365 §117.h and see BDB 393 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.a. For parallels to the idea of Yahweh requiring these characteristics in people see Hos 6:6, Mic 6:8.

[9:1]  ²⁰ sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”

[9:1]  ²² tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[1:1]  ²³ tn Or “This is a record of what Jeremiah prophesied and did”; Heb “The words [or affairs] of Jeremiah.” The phrase could refer to either the messages of Jeremiah recorded in the book or to both his messages and the biographical (and autobiographical) narratives recorded about him in the book. Since the phrase is intended to serve as the title or superscription for the whole book and recurs again in 51:64 at the end of the book before the final appendix, it might refer to the latter. The expression “The words of [someone]” is a standard introductory formula (Deut 29:1[28:69]; 2 Sam 23:1; Amos 1:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “This is a record of what Jeremiah prophesied and did”; Heb “The words [or affairs] of Jeremiah.” The phrase could refer to either the messages of Jeremiah recorded in the book or to both his messages and the biographical (and autobiographical) narratives recorded about him in the book. Since the phrase is intended to serve as the title or superscription for the whole book and recurs again in 51:64 at the end of the book before the final appendix, it might refer to the latter. The expression “The words of [someone]” is a standard introductory formula (Deut 29:1[28:69]; 2 Sam 23:1; Amos 1:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).