Yeremia 18:23

18:23 But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not pardon their crimes!

Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ¹ 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ² 

Yeremia 22:3

22:3 The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those ³  who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. ⁴  Do not kill innocent people ⁵  in this land.

Yeremia 46:27

A Promise of Hope for Israel

46:27 ⁶ “You descendants of Jacob, my servants, ⁷  do not be afraid;

do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from the faraway lands where you are captives. ⁸ 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them.

[18:23]  ¹ sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[18:23]  ² tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[22:3]  ³ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[22:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.

[22:3]  sn These were classes of people who had no one to look out for their rights. The laws of Israel, however, were careful to see that their rights were guarded (cf. Deut 10:18) and that provision was made for meeting their needs (cf. Deut 24:19-21). The Lord promised to protect them (cf. Ps 146:9) and a curse was called down on any who deprived them of justice (cf. Deut 27:19).

[22:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”

[22:3]  sn Do not kill innocent people. For an example of one of the last kings who did this see Jer 36:20-23. Manasseh was notorious for having done this and the book of 2 Kgs attributes the ultimate destruction of Judah to this crime and his sin of worshiping false gods (2 Kgs 21:16; 24:4).

[46:27]  ⁶ sn Jer 46:27-28 are virtually the same as 30:10-11. The verses are more closely related to that context than to this. But the presence of a note of future hope for the Egyptians may have led to a note of encouragement also to the Judeans who were under threat of judgment at the same time (cf. the study notes on 46:2, 13 and 25:1-2 for the possible relative dating of these prophecies).

[46:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “And/But you do not be afraid, my servant Jacob.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

[46:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”