Yeremia 3:4
Konteks3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! 1
You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.
Yeremia 46:11
Konteks46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, 2
you dear poor people of Egypt. 3
But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; 4
there will be no healing for you.
[3:4] 1 tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.
[46:11] 2 tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.
[46:11] 3 sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.
[46:11] 4 tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”