Yeremia 17:18

17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.

Do not let me be disgraced.

May they be dismayed.

Do not let me be dismayed.

Bring days of disaster on them.

Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹ 

Yeremia 18:21-23

18:21 So let their children die of starvation.

Let them be cut down by the sword. ² 

Let their wives lose their husbands and children.

Let the older men die of disease ³ 

and the younger men die by the sword in battle.

18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses

when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ⁴ 

For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden traps for me to step into.

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! ⁵ 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ⁶ 

Yeremia 20:12

20:12 O Lord who rules over all, ⁷  you test and prove the righteous.

You see into people’s hearts and minds. ⁸ 

Pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Yeremia 48:15

48:15 Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded.

Its finest young men will be slaughtered. ⁹ 

I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁰  affirm it! ¹¹ 

Yeremia 50:27

50:27 Kill all her soldiers! ¹² 

Let them be slaughtered! ¹³ 

They are doomed, ¹⁴  for their day of reckoning ¹⁵  has come,

the time for them to be punished.”

Yeremia 51:4

51:4 Let them fall ¹⁶  slain in the land of Babylonia, ¹⁷ 

mortally wounded in the streets of her cities. ¹⁸ 

[17:18]  ¹ tn Or “complete destruction.” See the translator’s note on 16:18.

[17:18]  sn Jeremiah now does what he says he has not wanted to do or been hasty to do. He is, however, seeking his own vindication and that of God whose threats they have belittled.

[18:21]  ² tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.

[18:21]  ³ tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.

[18:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.

[18:23]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[20:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[20:12]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title for God.

[20:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “Lord of armies, the one who tests the righteous, who sees kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[20:12]  sn This verse is almost an exact duplication of the petition in one of Jeremiah’s earlier prayers and complaints. See Jer 11:20 and notes there for explanation of the Hebrew psychology underlying the use of “kidneys and heart” here. For the thoughts expressed here see Ps 17.

[48:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “will go down to the slaughter.”

[48:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of the translation and meaning of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[48:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the King whose name is Yahweh of armies.” The first person form has again been adopted because the Lord is the speaker throughout this oracle/ these oracles (cf. v. 1).

[50:27]  ¹² tn Heb “Kill all her young bulls.” Commentators are almost universally agreed that the reference to “young bulls” is figurative here for the princes and warriors (cf. BDB 831 s.v. פַּר 2.f, which compares Isa 34:7 and Ezek 39:18). This is virtually certain because of the reference to the time coming for them to be punished; this would scarcely fit literal bulls. For the verb rendered “kill” here see the translator’s note on v. 21.

[50:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let them go down to the slaughter.”

[50:27]  ¹⁴ tn Or “How terrible it will be for them”; Heb “Woe to them.” See the study note on 22:13 and compare the usage in 23:1; 48:1.

[50:27]  ¹⁵ tn The words “of reckoning” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[51:4]  ¹⁶ tn The majority of English versions and the commentaries understand the vav (ו) consecutive + perfect as a future here “They will fall.” However, it makes better sense in the light of the commands in the previous verse to understand this as an indirect third person command (= a jussive; see GKC 333 §112.q, r) as REB and NJPS do.

[51:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[51:4]  ¹⁸ tn The words “cities” is not in the text. The text merely says “in her streets” but the antecedent is “land” and must then refer to the streets of the cities in the land.