Yeremia 4:4

4:4 Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin

as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,

you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord

and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, ¹ 

people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

If you do not, ²  my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you

that no one will be able to extinguish.

That will happen because of the evil you have done.”

Yeremia 5:14

5:14 Because of that, ³  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ⁴  said to me, ⁵ 

“Because these people have spoken ⁶  like this, ⁷ 

I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.

And I will make this people like wood

which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ⁸ 

Yeremia 16:11

16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, ⁹  ‘It is because your ancestors ¹⁰  rejected me and paid allegiance to ¹¹  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. ¹² 

Yeremia 25:27

25:27 Then the Lord said to me, ¹³  “Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁴  says, ¹⁵  ‘Drink this cup ¹⁶  until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. ¹⁷  For I will send wars sweeping through you.’ ¹⁸ 

Yeremia 29:31

29:31 “Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. ¹⁹ 

Yeremia 35:11

35:11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said, ‘Let’s get up and go to Jerusalem ²⁰  to get away from the Babylonian ²¹  and Aramean armies.’ That is why we are staying here in Jerusalem.”

Yeremia 44:22

44:22 Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ²² 

Yeremia 51:46

51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid

because of the reports that are heard in the land.

For a report will come in one year.

Another report will follow it in the next.

There will be violence in the land

with ruler fighting against ruler.”

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your heart.” The translation is again an attempt to bring out the meaning of a metaphor. The mention of the “foreskin of the heart” shows that the passage is obviously metaphorical and involves heart attitude, not an external rite.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “lest.”

[5:14]  ³ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “The Lord God of armies.” See the translator’s note at 2:19.

[5:14]  sn Here the emphasis appears to be on the fact that the Lord is in charge of the enemy armies whom he will use to punish Israel for their denial of his prior warnings through the prophets.

[5:14]  ⁵ tn The words, “to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “you have spoken.” The text here דַּבֶּרְכֶם (dabberkhem, “you have spoken”) is either a case of a scribal error for דַּבֶּרָם (dabberam, “they have spoken”) or an example of the rapid shift in addressee which is common in Jeremiah.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “this word.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “like wood and it [i.e., the fire I put in your mouth] will consume them.”

[16:11]  ⁹ tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’)” which occurs after “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read: “When you tell them these things and they say, ‘…’, then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”

[16:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).

[16:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.

[16:11]  ¹² tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.

[25:27]  ¹³ tn The words “Then the Lord said to me” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity, to connect this part of the narrative with vv. 15, 17 after the long intervening list of nations who were to drink the cup of God’s wrath in judgment.

[25:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[25:27]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this extended title.

[25:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord….’” The translation is intended to eliminate one level of imbedded quotation marks to help avoid confusion.

[25:27]  ¹⁶ tn The words “this cup” are not in the text but are implicit to the metaphor and the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[25:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Drink, and get drunk, and vomit and fall down and don’t get up.” The imperatives following drink are not parallel actions but consequent actions. For the use of the imperative plus the conjunctive “and” to indicate consequent action, even intention see GKC 324-25 §110.f and compare usage in 1 Kgs 22:12; Prov 3:3b-4a.

[25:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “because of the sword that I will send among you.” See the notes on 2:16 for explanation.

[29:31]  ¹⁹ tn Or “is giving you false assurances.”

[35:11]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[35:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “Chaldean.” For explanation see the study note on 21:4.

[44:22]  ²² tn Heb “And/Then the Lord could no longer endure because of the evil of your deeds [and] because of the detestable things that you did and [or so] your land became a desolation and a waste and an occasion of a curse without inhabitant as this day.” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style, but an attempt has been made to preserve the causal and consequential connections.