Psalms 52:5

52:5 Yet ¹  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ² 

He will scoop you up ³  and remove you from your home; ⁴ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Isaiah 5:2-5

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁵  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ⁶ 

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ⁷ 

people ⁸  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard

beyond what I have already done?

When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,

why did it produce sour ones instead?

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ⁹ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 1:10

1:10 Know for certain that ¹¹  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ¹²  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 18:7-10

18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, ¹⁴  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ¹⁵  18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ¹⁶  I will cancel the destruction ¹⁷  I intended to do to it. 18:9 And there are times when I promise to build up and establish ¹⁸  a nation or kingdom. 18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Jeremiah 45:4

45:4 The Lord told Jeremiah, ¹⁹  “Tell Baruch, ²⁰  ‘The Lord says, “I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth. ²¹ 

Matthew 13:28-29

13:28 He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So ²²  the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’ 13:29 But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.

Matthew 13:41

13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. ²³ 

Matthew 15:13

15:13 And he replied, ²⁴  “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

[52:5]  ¹ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ² tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ³ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:3]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

[1:10]  ¹² tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

[1:10]  ¹³ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.

[18:7]  ¹⁴ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lord’s words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.

[18:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.

[18:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ¹⁷ tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.

[18:9]  ¹⁸ sn Heb “plant.” The terms “uproot,” “tear down,” “destroy,” “build,” and “plant” are the two sides of the ministry Jeremiah was called to (cf. Jer 1:10).

[45:4]  ¹⁹ tn The words, “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text but are implicit in the address that follows, “Thus you shall say to him.” These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[45:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Thus you shall say to him [i.e., Baruch].”

[45:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “and this is with regard to the whole earth.” The feminine pronoun הִיא (hi’) at the end refers to the verbal concepts just mentioned, i.e., this process (cf. GKC 459 §144.b and compare the use of the feminine singular suffix in the same function GKC 440-41 §135.p). The particle אֶת (’et) is here functioning to introduce emphatically the object of the action (cf. BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 3.α). There is some debate whether אֶרֶץ (’erets) here applies to the whole land of Israel or to the whole earth. However, the reference to “all mankind” (Heb “all flesh”) in the next verse as well as “anywhere you go” points to “the whole earth” as the referent.

[13:28]  ²² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the owner’s statement.

[13:41]  ²³ tn Grk “the ones who practice lawlessness.”

[15:13]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And answering, he said.”