Psalms 14:4

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ¹  do not understand – ² 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Jeremiah 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ³ 

“This will happen ⁴  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ⁵ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Jeremiah 5:4

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ⁶ 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ⁷ 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 5:2

5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ⁹ 

But the fact is, ¹⁰  what they swear to is really a lie.” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 3:5

3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?

You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ¹² 

That is what you say,

but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ¹³ 

[14:4]  ¹ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ² tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[4:22]  ³ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[5:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.

[5:2]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.

[5:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they swear falsely.”

[3:5]  ¹² tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.

[3:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”