Yeremia 2:12

2:12 Be amazed at this, O heavens! ¹ 

Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,”

says the Lord.

Yeremia 18:2

18:2 “Go down at once ²  to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.” ³ 

Yeremia 22:27

22:27 You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!” ⁴ 

Yeremia 44:16

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! ⁵ 

Yeremia 48:14

48:14 How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes,

men who are mighty in battle?’

[2:12]  ¹ sn In earlier literature the heavens (and the earth) were called on to witness Israel’s commitment to the covenant (Deut 30:12) and were called to serve as witnesses to Israel’s fidelity or infidelity to it (Isa 1:2; Mic 6:1).

[18:2]  ² tn Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.

[18:2]  ³ tn Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”

[22:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “And unto the land to which they lift up their souls to return there, there they will not return.” Once again there is a sudden shift in person from the second plural to the third plural. As before the translation levels the pronouns to avoid confusion. For the idiom “to lift up the soul to” = “to long/yearn to/for” see BDB 670 s.v. נָשָׂא 1.b(9).

[44:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.