Yeremia 2:8
Konteks2:8 Your priests 1 did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ 2
Those responsible for teaching my law 3 did not really know me. 4
Your rulers rebelled against me.
Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. 5
They all worshiped idols that could not help them. 6
Yeremia 3:2
Konteks3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. 7
You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. 8
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. 9
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. 10
Yeremia 4:11
Konteks4:11 “At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem 11 will be told,
‘A scorching wind will sweep down
from the hilltops in the desert on 12 my dear people. 13
It will not be a gentle breeze
for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. 14
Yeremia 4:29
Konteks4:29 At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers
the people of every town will flee.
Some of them will hide in the thickets.
Others will climb up among the rocks.
All the cities will be deserted.
No one will remain in them.
Yeremia 6:1
Konteks6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem! 15
Sound the trumpet 16 in Tekoa!
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks 17 out of the north;
it will bring great destruction. 18
Yeremia 9:10
Konteks“I will weep and mourn 20 for the grasslands on the mountains, 21
I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness
because they are so scorched no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.
Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields
have fled and are gone.”
Yeremia 9:24
Konteks9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,” 22
says the Lord.
Yeremia 11:17
Konteks11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, 23 planted you in the land, 24
I now decree that disaster will come on you 25
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” 26
Yeremia 20:4
Konteks20:4 For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. 27 You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. 28 I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.
Yeremia 21:13
Konteks21:13 Listen, you 29 who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau.
I am opposed to you,’ 30 says the Lord. 31
‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us.
No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” 32
Yeremia 23:5
Konteks23:5 “I, the Lord, promise 33 that a new time will certainly come 34
when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, 35 a descendant of David.
He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding 36
and will do what is just and right in the land. 37
Yeremia 25:9
Konteks25:9 So I, the Lord, affirm that 38 I will send for all the peoples of the north 39 and my servant, 40 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy 41 this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it 42 and make them everlasting ruins. 43 I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. 44
Yeremia 26:11
Konteks26:11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, 45 “This man should be condemned to die 46 because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so 47 with your own ears.”
Yeremia 31:32
Konteks31:32 It will not be like the old 48 covenant that I made with their ancestors 49 when I delivered them 50 from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” 51 says the Lord. 52
Yeremia 32:23
Konteks32:23 But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey you or live as you had instructed them. They did not do anything that you commanded them to do. 53 So you brought all this disaster on them.
Yeremia 33:9
Konteks33:9 All the nations will hear about all the good things which I will do to them. This city will bring me fame, honor, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it.’ 54
Yeremia 39:5
Konteks39:5 But the Babylonian 55 army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho 56 and captured him. 57 They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah 58 in the territory of Hamath and Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him there.
Yeremia 44:7
Konteks44:7 “So now the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, 59 asks, ‘Why will you do such great harm to yourselves? Why should every man, woman, child, and baby of yours be destroyed from the midst of Judah? Why should you leave yourselves without a remnant?
Yeremia 46:10
Konteks46:10 But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all. 60
It is the day when he will pay back his enemies. 61
His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!
It will drink their blood until it is full! 62
For the Lord God who rules over all 63 will offer them up as a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.
Yeremia 50:34
Konteks50:34 But the one who will rescue them 64 is strong.
He is known as the Lord who rules over all. 65
He will strongly 66 champion their cause.
As a result 67 he will bring peace and rest to the earth,
but trouble and turmoil 68 to the people who inhabit Babylonia. 69
Yeremia 51:34
Konteks51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
devoured me and drove my people out.
Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.
He filled his belly with my riches.
He made me an empty dish.
He completely cleaned me out.” 70
[2:8] 1 tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”
[2:8] 2 sn See the study note on 2:6.
[2:8] 3 tn Heb “those who handle my law.”
[2:8] sn The reference is likely to the priests and Levites who were responsible for teaching the law (so Jer 18:18; cf. Deut 33:10). According to Jer 8:8 it could possibly refer to the scribes who copied the law.
[2:8] 4 tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.
[2:8] 6 tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (ya’al).
[3:2] 8 tn Heb “Where have you not been ravished?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “nowhere,” which suggests she has engaged in the worship of pagan gods on every one of the hilltops.
[3:2] 9 tn Heb “You sat for them [the lovers, i.e., the foreign gods] beside the road like an Arab in the desert.”
[3:2] 10 tn Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,” one expresses the main idea and the other qualifies it.
[4:11] 11 tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”
[4:11] 12 tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”
[4:11] sn The allusion is, of course, to the destructive forces of the enemy armies of Babylon compared above in 4:7 to a destructive lion and here to the destructive desert winds of the Near Eastern sirocco.
[4:11] 13 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common expression “daughter of Zion.”
[4:11] 14 tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.
[6:1] 15 tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”
[6:1] sn Compare and contrast Jer 4:6. There people in the outlying areas were warned to seek safety in the fortified city of Jerusalem. Here they are told to flee it because it was about to be destroyed.
[6:1] map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[6:1] 16 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
[6:1] 17 tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.
[6:1] 18 tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.
[6:1] sn This passage is emotionally charged. There are two examples of assonance or wordplay in the verse: “sound” (Heb tiq’u, “blow”), which has the same consonants as “Tekoa” (Heb uvitqoa’), and “signal fire,” which comes from the same root as “light” (Heb sÿ’u mas’et, “lift up”). There is also an example of personification where disaster is said to “lurk” (Heb “look down on”) out of the north. This gives a sense of urgency and concern for the coming destruction.
[9:10] 19 tn The words “I said” are not in the text, but there is general agreement that Jeremiah is the speaker. Cf. the lament in 8:18-9:1. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some English versions follow the Greek text which reads a plural imperative here. Since this reading would make the transition between 9:10 and 9:11 easier it is probably not original but a translator’s way of smoothing over a difficulty.
[9:10] 20 tn Heb “I will lift up weeping and mourning.”
[9:10] 21 tn Heb “for the mountains.” However, the context makes clear that it is the grasslands or pastures on the mountains that are meant. The words “for the grasslands” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:24] 22 tn Or “fairness and justice, because these things give me pleasure.” Verse 24 reads in Hebrew, “But let the one who brags brag in this: understanding and knowing me that I, the
[11:17] 23 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[11:17] sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
[11:17] 24 tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.
[11:17] 25 tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term
[11:17] 26 tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
[20:4] 27 tn Heb “I will make you an object of terror to both you and your friends.”
[20:4] 28 tn Heb “And they will fall by the sword of their enemies and [with] your eyes seeing [it].”
[21:13] 29 tn Or “Listen, Jerusalem, you…”; Heb text of v. 21a-b reads, “Behold I am against you [fem. sg.], O inhabitant [fem. sg.] of the valley [and of] the rock of the plain, oracle of the
[21:13] 30 tn Heb “I am against you.”
[21:13] 31 tn Heb “oracle of the
[21:13] 32 tn Heb “Who can swoop…Who can penetrate…?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. They are rendered as negative affirmations for clarity.
[21:13] sn What is being expressed here is the belief in the inviolability of Zion/Jerusalem carried to its extreme. Signal deliverances of Jerusalem such as those experienced under Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 20) and Hezekiah (Isa 37:36-37) in the context of promises to protect it (Isa 31:4-5; 37:33-35; 38:6) led to a belief that Zion was unconquerable. This belief found expression in several of Israel’s psalms (Pss 46, 48, 76) and led to the mistaken assumption that God would protect it regardless of how the people treated God or one another. Micah and Jeremiah both deny that (cf. Mic 3:8-12; Jer 21:13-14).
[23:5] 33 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[23:5] 34 tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”
[23:5] 35 tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).
[23:5] sn This passage and the parallel in Jer 33:15 are part of a growing number of prayers and prophecies regarding an ideal ruler to come forth from the Davidic line who will bring the justice, security, and well-being that the continuing line of Davidic rulers did not. Though there were periodic kings like Josiah who did fulfill the ideals set forth in Jer 22:3 (see Jer 22:15), by and large they were more like Jehoiakim who did not (see Jer 22:13). Hence the
[23:5] 36 tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).
[23:5] 37 sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).
[25:9] 38 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[25:9] 39 sn The many allusions to trouble coming from the north are now clarified: it is the armies of Babylon which included within it contingents from many nations. See 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20 for earlier allusions.
[25:9] 40 sn Nebuchadnezzar is called the
[25:9] 41 tn The word used here was used in the early years of Israel’s conquest for the action of killing all the men, women, and children in the cities of Canaan, destroying all their livestock, and burning their cities down. This policy was intended to prevent Israel from being corrupted by paganism (Deut 7:2; 20:17-18; Josh 6:18, 21). It was to be extended to any city that led Israel away from worshiping God (Deut 13:15) and any Israelite who brought an idol into his house (Deut 7:26). Here the policy is being directed against Judah as well as against her neighbors because of her persistent failure to heed God’s warnings through the prophets. For further usage of this term in application to foreign nations in the book of Jeremiah see 50:21, 26; 51:3.
[25:9] 42 tn Heb “will utterly destroy them.” The referent (this land, its inhabitants, and the nations surrounding it) has been specified in the translation for clarity, since the previous “them” referred to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.
[25:9] sn This is essentially the introduction to the “judgment on the nations” in vv. 15-29 which begins with Jerusalem and Judah (v. 18) and ultimately ends with Babylon itself (“Sheshach” in v. 26; see note there for explanation of the term).
[25:9] 43 sn The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” is the word often translated “eternal.” However, it sometimes has a more limited time reference. For example it refers to the lifetime of a person who became a “lasting slave” to another person (see Exod 21:6; Deut 15:17). It is also used to refer to the long life wished for a king (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). The time frame here is to be qualified at least with reference to Judah and Jerusalem as seventy years (see 29:10-14 and compare v. 12).
[25:9] 44 tn Heb “I will make them an object of horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been broken up to separate the last object from the first two which are of slightly different connotation, i.e., they denote the reaction to the latter.
[25:9] sn Compare Jer 18:16 and 19:8 and the study note at 18:16.
[26:11] 45 tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”
[26:11] 46 tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”
[31:32] 48 tn The word “old” is not in the text but is implicit in the use of the word “new.” It is supplied in the translation for greater clarity.
[31:32] sn This refers to the Mosaic covenant which the nation entered into with God at Sinai and renewed on the plains of Moab. The primary biblical passages explicating this covenant are Exod 19–24 and the book of Deuteronomy; see as well the study note on Jer 11:2 for the form this covenant took and its relation to the warnings of the prophets. The renewed document of Deuteronomy was written down and provisions made for periodic public reading and renewal of commitment to it (Deut 31:9-13). Josiah had done this after the discovery of the book of the law (which was either Deuteronomy or a synopsis of it) early in the ministry of Jeremiah (2 Kgs 23:1-4; the date would be near 622
[31:32] 50 tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”
[31:32] 51 tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.
[31:32] sn The metaphor of Yahweh as husband and Israel as wife has been used already in Jer 3 and is implicit in the repeated allusions to idolatry as spiritual adultery or prostitution. The best commentary on the faithfulness of God to his “husband-like” relation is seen in the book of Hosea, especially in Hos 1-3.
[31:32] 52 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[32:23] 53 tn Or “They did not do everything that you commanded them to do.” This is probably a case where the negative (לֹא, lo’) negates the whole category indicated by “all” (כָּל, kol; see BDB 482 s.v. כָּל 1.e(c) and compare usage in Deut 12:16; 28:14). Jeremiah has repeatedly emphasized that the history of Israel since their entry into the land has been one of persistent disobedience and rebellion (cf., e.g. 7:22-26; 11:7-8). The statement, of course, is somewhat hyperbolical as all categorical statements of this kind are.
[33:9] 54 tn Heb “And it [the city] will be to me for a name for joy and for praise and for honor before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good things which I will do for them and which will be in awe and tremble for all the good things and all the peace [or prosperity] which I will do for them.” The long complex Hebrew sentence has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.
[39:5] 55 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
[39:5] 56 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[39:5] 57 sn 2 Kgs 25:5 and Jer 52:8 mention that the soldiers all scattered from him. That is why the text focuses on Zedekiah here.
[39:5] 58 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
[44:7] 59 tn Heb “Yahweh, the God of armies, the God of Israel.” Compare 35:17; 38:17 and for the title “God of armies” see the study note on 2:19.
[46:10] 60 tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.
[46:10] 61 sn Most commentators think that this is a reference to the
[46:10] 62 tn Or more paraphrastically, “he will kill them/ until he has exacted full vengeance”; Heb “The sword will eat and be sated; it will drink its fill of their blood.”
[46:10] sn This passage is, of course, highly figurative. The
[46:10] 63 tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh of armies.” See the study note at 2:19 for the translation and significance of this title for God.
[50:34] 64 sn Heb “their redeemer.” The Hebrew term “redeemer” referred in Israelite family law to the nearest male relative who was responsible for securing the freedom of a relative who had been sold into slavery. For further discussion of this term as well as its metaphorical use to refer to God as the one who frees Israel from bondage in Egypt and from exile in Assyria and Babylonia see the study note on 31:11.
[50:34] 65 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 2:19.
[50:34] 66 tn Or “he will certainly champion.” The infinitive absolute before the finite verb here is probably functioning to intensify the verb rather than to express the certainty of the action (cf. GKC 333 §112.n and compare usage in Gen 43:3 and 1 Sam 20:6 listed there).
[50:34] 67 tn This appears to be another case where the particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a result rather than giving the purpose or goal. See the translator’s note on 25:7 for a listing of other examples in the book of Jeremiah and also the translator’s note on 27:10.
[50:34] 68 tn Heb “he will bring rest to the earth and will cause unrest to.” The terms “rest” and “unrest” have been doubly translated to give more of the idea underlying these two concepts.
[50:34] 69 tn This translation again reflects the problem often encountered in these prophecies where the
[51:34] 70 tn This verse is extremely difficult to translate because of the shifting imagery, the confusion over the meaning of one of the verbs, and the apparent inconsistency of the pronominal suffixes here with those in the following verse which everyone agrees is connected with it. The pronominal suffixes are first common plural but the versions all read them as first common singular which the Masoretes also do in the Qere. That reading has been followed here for consistency with the next verse which identifies the speaker as the person living in Zion and the personified city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew text reads: “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me [cf. 50:7, 17] and threw me into confusion. He set me down an empty dish. He swallowed me like a monster from the deep [cf. BDB 1072 s.v. תַּנִּין 3 and compare usage in Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; 32:2]. He filled his belly with my dainties. He rinsed me out [cf. BDB s.v. דּוּח Hiph.2 and compare the usage in Isa 4:4].” The verb “throw into confusion” has proved troublesome because its normal meaning does not seem appropriate. Hence various proposals have been made to understand it in a different sense. The present translation has followed W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:428) in understanding the verb to mean “disperse” or “route” (see NAB). The last line has seemed out of place and has often been emended to read “he has spewed me out” (so NIV, NRSV, a reading that presupposes הִדִּיחָנִי [hiddikhani] for הֱדִיחָנִי [hedikhani]). The reading of the MT is not inappropriate if it is combined with the imagery of an empty jar and hence is retained here (see F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 425, n. 59; H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 344; NJPS). The lines have been combined to keep the imagery together.
[51:34] sn The speaker in this verse and the next is the personified city of Jerusalem. She laments her fate at the hands of the king of Babylon and calls down a curse on Babylon and the people who live in Babylonia. Here Nebuchadnezzar is depicted as a monster of the deep who has devoured Jerusalem, swallowed her down, and filled its belly with her riches, leaving her an empty dish, which has been rinsed clean.