Yeremia 1:1

The Superscription

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

Yeremia 4:12

4:12 No, ²  a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.

Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ ³ 

Yeremia 15:2

15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this:

“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.

Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.

Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.

Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ⁴ 

Yeremia 17:17

17:17 Do not cause me dismay! ⁵ 

You are my source of safety in times of trouble.

Yeremia 18:3

18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working ⁶  at his wheel. ⁷ 

Yeremia 19:10

19:10 The Lord continued, ⁸  “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you.

Yeremia 29:24

A Response to the Letter and a Subsequent Letter

29:24 The Lord told Jeremiah, “Tell ⁹  Shemaiah the Nehelamite ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 46:24

46:24 Poor dear Egypt ¹¹  will be put to shame.

She will be handed over to the people from the north.”

Yeremia 49:27

49:27 “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;

it will burn up the palaces of Ben Hadad.” ¹² 

Yeremia 51:40

51:40 “I will lead them off to be slaughtered

like lambs, rams, and male goats.” ¹³ 

Yeremia 51:54

51:54 Cries of anguish will come from Babylon,

the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

[1:1]  ¹ 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).

[4:12]  ² tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”

[4:12]  ³ tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”

[15:2]  ⁴ tn It is difficult to render the rhetorical force of this passage in meaningful English. The text answers the question “Where should we go?” with four brief staccato-like expressions with a play on the preposition “to”: Heb “Who to the death, to the death and who to the sword, to the sword and who to the starvation, to the starvation and who to the captivity, to the captivity.” The word “death” here is commonly understood to be a poetic substitute for “plague” because of the standard trio of sword, famine, and plague (see, e.g., 14:12 and the notes there). This is likely here and in 18:21. For further support see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:440. The nuance “starvation” rather than “famine” has been chosen in the translation because the referents here are all things that accompany war.

[17:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not be a source of dismay for me.” For this nuance of מְחִתָּה (mÿkhittah) rather than “terror” as many of the English versions have it see BDB 370 s.v. מְחִתָּה 1.b and the usage in Prov 21:15. Compare also the usage of the related verb which occurs in the next verse (see also BDB 369 s.v. חָתַת Qal.2).

[18:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “And behold he was working.”

[18:3]  ⁷ sn At his wheel (Heb “at the two stones”). The Hebrew expression is very descriptive of the construction of a potter’s wheel which consisted of two stones joined by a horizontal shaft. The potter rotated the wheel with his feet on the lower wheel and worked the clay with his hands on the upper. For a picture of a potter working at his wheel see I. Ben-Dor, “Potter’s Wheel,” IDB 3:846. See also the discussion regarding the making of pottery in J. L. Kelso, “Pottery,” IDB 3:846-53.

[19:10]  ⁸ tn The words “And the Lord continued” are not in the text. However, they are necessary to take us clearly back to the flow of the narrative begun in vv. 1-2 and interrupted by the long speech in vv. 3-9.

[29:24]  ⁹ tn The words “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation here to indicate the shift in topic and the shift in addressee (the imperative “tell” is second singular). The introduction supplied in the translation here matches that in v. 30 where the words are in the text.

[29:24]  ¹⁰ tn It is unclear whether this is a family name or a place name. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

[46:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Daughter Egypt.” See the translator’s note on v. 19.

[49:27]  ¹² sn Ben-Hadad was a common name borne by a number of the kings of Damascus, e.g., one during the time of Asa around 900 b.c. (cf. 1 Kgs 15:18-20), one a little later during the time of Omri and Ahab around 850 (1 Kgs 20), and one during the time of Jehoash about 800 (2 Kgs 13:24-25).

[51:40]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will bring them down like lambs to be slaughtered, like rams and he goats.”

[51:40]  sn This statement is highly ironic in light of the fact that the Babylonians were compared to lions and lion cubs (v. 38). Here they are like lambs, rams, and male goats which are to be lead off to be slaughtered.