Yeremia 2:18-20
Konteks2:18 What good will it do you 1 then 2 to go down to Egypt
to seek help from the Egyptians? 3
What good will it do you 4 to go over to Assyria
to seek help from the Assyrians? 5
2:19 Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment.
Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. 6
Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful 7
it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, 8
to show no respect for me,” 9
says the Lord God who rules over all. 10
2:20 “Indeed, 11 long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me. 12
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ 13
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 14
Yeremia 16:11-12
Konteks16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, 15 ‘It is because your ancestors 16 rejected me and paid allegiance to 17 other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. 18 16:12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. 19
Yeremia 22:8-9
Konteks22:8 “‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?” 22:9 The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.”
[2:18] 1 tn Heb “What to you to the way.”
[2:18] 2 tn The introductory particle וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah, “and now”) carries a logical, not temporal, connotation here (cf. BDB 274 s.v. עַתָּה 2.b).
[2:18] 3 tn Heb “to drink water from the Shihor [a branch of the Nile].” The reference is to seeking help through political alliance with Egypt as opposed to trusting in God for help. This is an extension of the figure in 2:13.
[2:18] 4 tn Heb “What to you to the way.”
[2:18] 5 tn Heb “to drink water from the River [a common designation in biblical Hebrew for the Euphrates River].” This refers to seeking help through political alliance. See the preceding note.
[2:19] 6 tn Or “teach you a lesson”; Heb “rebuke/chide you.”
[2:19] 7 tn Heb “how evil and bitter.” The reference is to the consequences of their acts. This is a figure of speech (hendiadys) where two nouns or adjectives joined by “and” introduce a main concept modified by the other noun or adjective.
[2:19] 8 tn Heb “to leave the
[2:19] 9 tn Heb “and no fear of me was on you.”
[2:19] 10 tn Heb “the Lord Yahweh, [the God of] hosts.” For the title Lord
[2:20] 11 tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.
[2:20] 12 tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.
[2:20] 13 tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.
[2:20] 14 tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.
[16:11] 15 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the
[16:11] 16 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).
[16:11] 17 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.
[16:11] 18 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.
[16:12] 19 sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.