11:20 So I said to the Lord, 1
“O Lord who rules over all, 2 you are a just judge!
You examine people’s hearts and minds. 3
I want to see you pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” 4
11:21 Then the Lord told me about 5 some men from Anathoth 6 who were threatening to kill me. 7 They had threatened, 8 “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!” 9 11:22 So the Lord who rules over all 10 said, “I will surely 11 punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. 12 Their sons and daughters will die of starvation. 11:23 Not one of them will survive. 13 I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. 14 A day of reckoning is coming for them.” 15
12:1 Lord, you have always been fair
whenever I have complained to you. 16
However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. 17
Why are wicked people successful? 18
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. 19
They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. 20
They always talk about you,
but they really care nothing about you. 21
12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.
You watch me and test my devotion to you. 22
Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!
Appoint a time when they will be killed! 23
12:4 How long must the land be parched 24
and the grass in every field be withered?
How long 25 must the animals and the birds die
because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? 26
For these people boast,
“God 27 will not see what happens to us.” 28
12:5 The Lord answered, 29
“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out,
how will you be able to compete with horses?
And if you feel secure only 30 in safe and open country, 31
how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? 32
12:6 As a matter of fact, 33 even your own brothers
and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.
Even they have plotted to do away with you. 34
So do not trust them even when they say kind things 35 to you.
42:1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah 36 and all the people of every class, 37 went to the prophet Jeremiah.
1 tn The words “So I said to the
2 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
3 tn Heb “
4 tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”
5 tn Heb “Therefore thus says the
6 tn Heb “the men of Anathoth.” However, this does not involve all of the people, only the conspirators. The literal might lead to confusion later since v. 21 mentions that there will not be any of them left alive. However, it is known from Ezra 2:23 that there were survivors.
7 tc The MT reads the 2nd person masculine singular suffix “your life,” but LXX reflects an alternative reading of the 1st person common singular suffix “my life.”
8 tn Heb “who were seeking my life, saying…” The sentence is broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
9 tn Heb “or you will die by our hand.”
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
11 tn Heb “Behold I will.” For the function of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.
12 tn Heb “will die by the sword.” Here “sword” stands contextually for “battle” while “starvation” stands for death by starvation during siege.
13 tn Heb “There will be no survivors for/among them.”
14 tn Heb “the men of Anathoth.” For the rationale for adding the qualification see the notes on v. 21.
15 tn Heb “I will bring disaster on…, the year of their punishment.”
16 tn Or “
17 tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).
18 tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”
19 tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”
20 tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.
21 tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”
22 tn Heb “You,
23 tn Heb “set aside for them a day of killing.”
24 tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).
25 tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.
26 tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”
27 tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.
28 tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.
29 tn The words “The
30 tn Some commentaries and English versions follow the suggestion given in HALOT 116 s.v. II בָּטַח that a homonym meaning “to stumble, fall down” is involved here and in Prov 14:16. The evidence for this homonym is questionable because both passages can be explained on other grounds with the usual root.
31 tn Heb “a land of tranquility.” The expression involves a figure of substitution where the feeling engendered is substituted for the conditions that engender it. For the idea see Isa 32:18. The translation both here and in the following line is intended to bring out the contrast implicit in the emotive connotations connected with “peaceful country” and “thicket along the Jordan.”
32 tn Heb “the thicket along the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
33 tn This is an attempt to give some contextual sense to the particle “for, indeed” (כִּי, ki).
34 tn Heb “they have called after you fully”; or “have lifted up loud voices against you.” The word “against” does not seem quite adequate for the preposition “after.” The preposition “against” would be Hebrew עַל (’al). The idea appears to be that they are chasing after him, raising their voices along with those of the conspirators to have him killed.
35 tn Heb “good things.” See BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 2 for this nuance and compare Prov 12:25 for usage.
36 sn Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah may have been the same as the Jezaniah son of the Maacathite mentioned in 40:8. The title “the Maacathite” would identify the locality from which his father came, i.e., a region in northern Transjordan east of Lake Huleh. Many think he is also the same man who is named “Azariah” in Jer 43:2 (the Greek version has Azariah both here and in 43:2). It was not uncommon for one man to have two names, e.g., Uzziah who was also named Azariah (compare 2 Kgs 14:21 with 2 Chr 26:1).
37 tn Or “without distinction,” or “All the people from the least important to the most important”; Heb “from the least to the greatest.” This is a figure of speech that uses polar opposites as an all-inclusive designation of everyone without exception (i.e., it included all the people from the least important or poorest to the most important or richest.)