Yeremia 3:20

3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, ¹ 

like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” ² 

says the Lord.

Yeremia 4:27

4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, ³ 

“The whole land will be desolate;

however, I will not completely destroy it.

Yeremia 5:29

5:29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! ⁴ 

Yeremia 7:3

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁵  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁶  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁷ 

Yeremia 7:21

7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah, ⁸  “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁹  says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 9:23

9:23 ¹¹ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹² 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹³ 

Yeremia 13:18

13:18 The Lord told me, ¹⁴ 

“Tell the king and the queen mother,

‘Surrender your thrones, ¹⁵ 

for your glorious crowns

will be removed ¹⁶  from your heads. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 17:5

Individuals Are Challenged to Put Their Trust in the Lord ¹⁸ 

17:5 The Lord says,

“I will put a curse on people

who trust in mere human beings,

who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ¹⁹ 

and whose hearts ²⁰  have turned away from the Lord.

Yeremia 22:16

22:16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy.

So things went well for Judah.’ ²¹ 

The Lord says,

‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’ ²² 

Yeremia 23:35

23:35 So I, Jeremiah, tell you, ²³  “Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, ‘How did the Lord answer? Or what did the Lord say?’ ²⁴ 

Yeremia 27:21

27:21 Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²⁵  has already spoken ²⁶  about the valuable articles that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

Yeremia 32:28

32:28 Therefore I, the Lord, say: ²⁷  ‘I will indeed hand ²⁸  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ²⁹  They will capture it.

Yeremia 33:17

33:17 For I, the Lord, promise: “David will never lack a successor to occupy ³⁰  the throne over the nation of Israel. ³¹ 

Yeremia 34:4

34:4 However, listen to what I, the Lord, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the Lord, promise that ³²  you will not die in battle or be executed. ³³ 

Yeremia 34:13

34:13 “The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ³⁴  ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors ³⁵  when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. ³⁶  It stipulated, ³⁷ 

Yeremia 35:19

35:19 So the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.’” ³⁸ 

Yeremia 42:9

42:9 Then Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to the Lord God of Israel to make your request known to him. Here is what he says to you: ³⁹ 

Yeremia 51:1

51:1 The Lord says,

“I will cause a destructive wind ⁴⁰  to blow

against ⁴¹  Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. ⁴² 

[3:20]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[3:20]  ² tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”

[4:27]  ³ tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”

[5:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “Should I not punish…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.

[5:29]  sn These words are repeated from 5:9 to give a kind of refrain justifying again the necessity of punishment in the light of such sins.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  sn Compare the use of similar titles in 2:19; 5:14; 6:6 and see the explanation in the study note at 2:19. In this instance the title appears to emphasize the Lord as the heavenly King who drags his disobedient vassals into court (and threatens them with judgment).

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:21]  ⁸ tn The words “The Lord said to the people of Judah” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift in addressee between vv. 16-20 and vv. 21-26.

[7:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[7:21]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3.

[7:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Add your burnt offerings to your [other] sacrifices and eat the meat!” See the following sn for explanation. This is an example of the rhetorical use of the imperative for a sarcastic challenge. Cf. GKC 324 §110.a; cf. Amos 4:4, “Go to Bethel and sin!”

[7:21]  sn All of the burnt offering, including the meat, was to be consumed on the altar (e.g., Lev 1:6-9). The meat of the other sacrifices could be eaten by the priest who offered the sacrifice and the person who brought it (e.g., Lev 7:16-18, 32). Since, however, the people of Judah were making a mockery of the sacrificial system by offering sacrifices while disobeying the law, the Lord rejected the sacrifices (cf. 6:20). Since they were violating the moral law they might as well go ahead and violate the cultic law by eating the meat dedicated to God because he rejected it anyway.

[9:23]  ¹¹ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹² tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[13:18]  ¹⁴ tn The words “The Lord told me” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift from second plural pronouns in vv. 15-17 to second singular in the Hebrew text of this verse. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[13:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “You will come down from your thrones”; Heb “Make low! Sit!” This is a case of a construction where two forms in the same case, mood, or tense are joined in such a way that one (usually the first) is intended as an adverbial or adjectival modifier of the other (a figure called hendiadys). This is also probably a case where the imperative is used to express a distinct assurance or promise. See GKC 324 §110.b and compare the usage in Isa 37:30 and Ps 110:2.

[13:18]  sn The king and queen mother are generally identified as Jehoiachin and his mother who were taken into captivity with many of the leading people of Jerusalem in 597 b.c. See Jer 22:26; 29:2; 2 Kgs 24:14-16.

[13:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “have come down.” The verb here and those in the following verses are further examples of the “as good as done” form of the Hebrew verb (the prophetic perfect).

[13:18]  ¹⁷ tc The translation follows the common emendation of a word normally meaning “place at the head” (מַרְאֲשׁוֹת [mar’ashot] plus pronoun = מַרְאֲוֹשׁתֵיכֶם [mar’aoshtekhem]) to “from your heads” (מֵרָאשֵׁיכֶם, mera’shekhem) following the ancient versions. The meaning “tiara” is nowhere else attested for this word.

[17:5]  ¹⁸ sn Verses 5-11 are a collection of wisdom-like sayings (cf. Ps 1) which set forth the theme of the two ways and their consequences. It has as its background the blessings and the curses of Deut 28 and the challenge to faith in Deut 29-30 which climaxes in Deut 30:15-20. The nation is sinful and God is weary of showing them patience. However, there is hope for individuals within the nation if they will trust in him.

[17:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “who make flesh their arm.” The “arm” is the symbol of strength and the flesh is the symbol of mortal man in relation to the omnipotent God. The translation “mere flesh and blood” reflects this.

[17:5]  ²⁰ sn In the psychology of ancient Hebrew thought the heart was the center not only of the emotions but of the thoughts and motivations. It was also the seat of moral conduct (cf. its placement in the middle of the discussion of moral conduct in Prov 4:20-27, i.e., in v. 23).

[22:16]  ²¹ tn The words “for Judah” are not in the text, but the absence of the preposition plus object as in the preceding verse suggests that this is a more general statement, i.e., “things went well for everyone.”

[22:16]  ²² tn Heb “Is that not what it means to know me.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. It is translated in the light of the context.

[22:16]  sn Comparison of the usage of the words “know me” in their context in Jer 2:8; 9:3, 6, 24 and here will show that more than mere intellectual knowledge is involved. It involves also personal commitment to God and obedience to the demands of the agreements with him. The word “know” is used in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts of submission to the will of the overlord. See further the notes on 9:3.

[23:35]  ²³ tn The words “So, I, Jeremiah tell you” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that it is he who is addressing the people, not the Lord. See “our God” in v. 38 and “Here is what the Lord says…” which indicate the speaker is other than he.

[23:35]  ²⁴ tn This line is sometimes rendered as a description of what the people are doing (cf. NIV). However, repetition with some slight modification referring to the prophet in v. 37 followed by the same kind of prohibition that follows here shows that what is being contrasted is two views toward the Lord’s message, i.e., one of openness to receive what the Lord says through the prophet and one that already characterizes the Lord’s message as a burden. Allusion to the question that started the discussion in v. 33 should not be missed. The prophet alluded to is Jeremiah. He is being indirect in his reference to himself.

[27:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:21]  ²⁶ sn Some of the flavor of the repetitive nature of Hebrew narrative is apparent in vv. 19-21. In the Hebrew original vv. 19-20 are all one long sentence with complex coordination and subordinations. I.e., all the objects in v. 19 are all objects of the one verb “has spoken about” and the description in v. 20 is one long relative or descriptive clause. The introductory “For the Lord…has already spoken” is repeated in v. 21 from v. 19 and reference is made to the same articles once again, only in the terms that were used in v. 18b. By this means, attention is focused for these people (here the priests and the people) on articles which were of personal concern for them and the climax or the punch line is delayed to the end. The point being made is that the false prophets are mistaken; not only will the articles taken to Babylon not be returned “very soon” but the Lord had said that the ones that remained would be taken there as well. They ought rather pray that the Lord will change his mind and not carry them off as well.

[32:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the speech has already been introduced as first person. So the first person style has been retained for smoother narrative style.

[32:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of…”

[32:28]  ²⁹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[33:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a man shall not be cut off to David [i.e., belonging to the Davidic line] sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.”

[33:17]  ³¹ sn It should be noted once again that the reference is to all Israel, not just to Judah (cf. Jer 23:5-6; 30:9).

[34:4]  ³² tn Heb “However, hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord to you, “You will not die by the sword.”’” The translation has tried to avoid the complexity created by embedding quotes within quotes and has used the first person address within the Lord’s speech as has also been done elsewhere.

[34:4]  ³³ tn Heb “by the sword.”

[34:4]  sn The contrast is between death in battle or by execution and death in the normal course of life. Zedekiah was captured, had to witness the execution of his sons, had his eyes put out, and was taken to Babylon where he died after a lengthy imprisonment (Jer 52:10-11).

[34:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘…’” The style adopted here has been used to avoid a longer, more complex English sentence.

[34:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 14, 15).

[34:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “out of the house of bondage.”

[34:13]  sn This refers to the Mosaic covenant, initiated at Mount Sinai and renewed on the plains of Moab. The statement “I brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” functions as the “historical prologue” in the Ten Commandments which is the Lord’s vassal treaty with Israel in miniature. (See the study note on 11:2 and see Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6 and Exod 34:8. As such it was a motivating factor in their pledge of loyalty to him. This statement was also invoked within the law itself as a motivation for kindly treatment of slaves including their emancipation (see Deut 15:15).)

[34:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “made a covenant, saying.” This was only one of several stipulations of the covenant. The form used here has been chosen as an indirect way of relating the specific stipulation that is being focused upon to the general covenant that is referred to in v. 13.

[35:19]  ³⁸ tn Heb “There shall not be cut to Jonadab son of Rechab a man standing before me all the days.” For the first part of this idiom see 33:17-18 where it is applied to David always having a descendant to occupy the throne and the Levites will always have priests to offer up sacrifices. For the latter part of the idiom “to stand before” referring to service see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד 1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 1:2; 2 Kgs 3:14; Jer 15:19; Deut 10:8. As comparison with those passages will show, it refers to attending on, or serving a superior, a king, or the Lord. It is used of both prophets (e.g., 1 Kgs 17:1) and priests (e.g., Deut 10:8) serving the Lord. Its most common use is to refer to priestly service. The nature of the service is not further defined in this case, though several of the commentaries point out a Mishnaic tradition that the Rechabites later were given the function of bringing wood for the altar.

[42:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord God of Israel to whom you sent me to present your petition before him, ‘…’” The sentence has been restructured to cut down on the length of the introduction leading in to the long quote.

[42:9]  sn Their “request” is that Jeremiah would tell them where to go and what to do (v. 3).

[51:1]  ⁴⁰ sn The destructive wind is a figurative reference to the “foreign people” who will “winnow” Babylon and drive out all the people (v. 2). This figure has already been used in 4:11-12 and in 49:36. See the study note on 4:11-12 and the translator’s notes on 22:22 and 49:36.

[51:1]  ⁴¹ tn Or “I will arouse the spirit of hostility of a destroying nation”; Heb “I will stir up against Babylon…a destroying wind [or the spirit of a destroyer].” The word רוּחַ (ruakh) can refer to either a wind (BDB 924 s.v. רוּחַ 2.a) or a spirit (BDB 925 s.v. רוּחַ 2.g). It can be construed as either a noun followed by an adjectival participle (so, “a destroying wind”) or a noun followed by another noun in the “of” relationship (a construct or genitival relationship; so, “spirit of a destroyer”). The same noun with this same verb is translated “stir up the spirit of” in 1 Chr 5:26; 2 Chr 21:16; 36:22; Hag 1:14; and most importantly in Jer 51:11 where it refers to the king of the Medes. However, the majority of the exegetical tradition (all the commentaries consulted and all the English versions except NASB and NIV) opt for the “destructive wind” primarily because of the figure of winnowing that is found in the next verse. The translation follows the main line exegetical tradition here for that same reason.

[51:1]  ⁴² sn Heb “the people who live in Leb-qamai.” “Leb-qamai” is a code name for “Chaldeans” formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. This same principle is used in referring to Babylon in 25:26 and 51:41 as “Sheshach.” See the study note on 25:26 where further details are given. There is no consensus on why the code name is used because the terms Babylon and Chaldeans (= Babylonians) have appeared regularly in this prophecy or collection of prophecies.