Yeremia 14:9
Konteks14:9 Why should you be like someone who is helpless, 1
like a champion 2 who cannot save anyone?
You are indeed with us, 3
and we belong to you. 4
Do not abandon us!”
Yeremia 20:9
Konteks20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.
I will not speak as his messenger 5 any more.”
But then 6 his message becomes like a fire
locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. 7
I grow weary of trying to hold it in;
I cannot contain it.
Yeremia 23:36
Konteks23:36 You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. 8 For what is ‘burdensome’ 9 really pertains to what a person himself says. 10 You are misrepresenting 11 the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. 12
[14:9] 1 tn This is the only time this word occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The lexicons generally take it to mean “confused” or “surprised” (cf., e.g., BDB 187 s.v. דָּהַם). However, the word has been found in a letter from the seventh century in a passage where it must mean something like “be helpless”; see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:433, for discussion and bibliography of an article where this letter is dealt with.
[14:9] 2 tn Heb “mighty man, warrior.” For this nuance see 1 Sam 17:51 where it parallels a technical term used of Goliath used earlier in 17:4, 23.
[14:9] 3 tn Heb “in our midst.”
[14:9] 4 tn Heb “Your name is called upon us.” See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 for this idiom with respect to the temple and see the notes on Jer 7:10.
[20:9] 5 tn Heb “speak in his name.” This idiom occurs in passages where someone functions as the messenger under the authority of another. See Exod 5:23; Deut 18:19, 29:20; Jer 14:14. The antecedent in the first line is quite commonly misidentified as being “him,” i.e., the
[20:9] 6 tn The English sentence has again been restructured for the sake of English style. The Hebrew construction involves two vav consecutive perfects in a condition and consequence relation, “If I say to myself…then it [his word] becomes.” See GKC 337 §112.kk for the construction.
[20:9] 7 sn Heb “It is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.” In addition to standing as part for the whole, the “bones” for the person (e.g., Ps 35:10), the bones were associated with fear (e.g., Job 4:14) and with pain (e.g., Job 33:19, Ps 102:3 [102:4 HT]) and joy or sorrow (e.g., Ps 51:8 [51:10 HT]). As has been mentioned several times, the heart was connected with intellectual and volitional concerns.
[23:36] 8 tn Heb “burden of the
[23:36] 9 tn Heb “the burden.”
[23:36] 10 tn Heb “The burden is [or will be] to a man his word.” There is a good deal of ambiguity regarding how this line is to be rendered. For the major options and the issues involved W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:651-52 should be consulted. Most of them are excluded by the observation that מַשָּׂא probably does not mean “oracle” anywhere in this passage (see note on v. 33 regarding the use of this word). Hence it does not mean “every man’s word becomes his oracle” as in NIV or “for that ‘burden’ [= oracle] is what he entrusts to the man of his word” (W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:600-601). The latter is also ruled out by the fact that the antecedent of “his” on “his word” is clearly the word “man” in front of it. This would be the only case where the phrase “man of his word” occurs. There is also no textual reason for repointing the noun with the article as the noun with the interrogative to read “For how can his word become a burden to anyone?” There are, of course, other options but this is sufficient to show that the translation has been chosen after looking at other alternatives.
[23:36] 11 tn Heb “turning.” See BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ Qal.1.c and Lev 13:55; Jer 13:33 “changing, altering.”
[23:36] 12 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[23:36] sn See the study note on 2:19 for the explanation of the significance of this title.
