Yeremia 13:17

13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ¹ 

I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.

I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ² 

because you, the Lord’s flock, ³  will be carried ⁴  into exile.”

Yeremia 31:10

31:10 Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations.

Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.

Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them.

He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”

Yeremia 50:6

50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds ⁵  have allow them to go astray.

They have wandered around in the mountains.

They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. ⁶ 

They have forgotten their resting place.

[13:17]  ¹ tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.

[13:17]  ² tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”

[13:17]  sn The depth of Jeremiah’s sorrow for the sad plight of his people, if they refuse to repent, is emphasized by the triple repetition of the word “tears” twice in an emphatic verbal expression (Hebrew infinitive before finite verb) and once in the noun.

[13:17]  ³ tn Heb “because the Lord’s flock will…” The pronoun “you” is supplied in the translation to avoid the shift in English from the second person address at the beginning to the third person affirmation at the end. It also helps explain the metaphor of the people of Israel as God’s flock for some readers who may be unfamiliar with that metaphor.

[13:17]  ⁴ tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

[50:6]  ⁵ sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).

[50:6]  ⁶ sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).