Yeremia 2:30

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ¹ 

Yeremia 18:23

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! ² 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ³ 

Yeremia 26:8

26:8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some ⁴  of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! ⁵ 

Yeremia 26:11

26:11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, ⁶  “This man should be condemned to die ⁷  because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so ⁸  with your own ears.”

Yeremia 38:4

38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ⁹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ¹⁰  This ¹¹  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ¹² 

[2:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

[18:23]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[26:8]  ⁴ tn The translation again represents an attempt to break up a long complex Hebrew sentence into equivalent English ones that conform more to contemporary English style: Heb “And as soon as Jeremiah finished saying all that…the priests…grabbed him and said…” The word “some” has been supplied in the translation, because obviously it was not all the priests, the prophets, and all the people, but only some of them. There is, of course, rhetorical intent here to show that all were implicated, although all may not have actually participated. (This is a common figure called synecdoche where all is put for a part – all for all kinds or representatives of all kinds. See E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 614-19, and compare usage in Acts 10:12; Matt 3:5.)

[26:8]  ⁵ tn Or “You must certainly die!” The construction here is again emphatic with the infinitive preceding the finite verb (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Exod 21:28).

[26:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”

[26:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”

[26:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “it.”

[38:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).

[38:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by saying these things.”

[38:4]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.

[38:4]  ¹² tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”