Yeremia 4:27

4:27 All this will happen because the Lord said, ¹ 

“The whole land will be desolate;

however, I will not completely destroy it.

Yeremia 5:10

5:10 The Lord commanded the enemy, ² 

“March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. ³ 

But do not destroy them completely.

Strip off their branches

for these people do not belong to the Lord. ⁴ 

Yeremia 5:15-18

5:15 The Lord says, ⁵  “Listen, ⁶  nation of Israel! ⁷ 

I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.

It will be a nation that was founded long ago

and has lasted for a long time.

It will be a nation whose language you will not know.

Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. ⁸ 

Their arrows will send you to your grave. ⁹ 

5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food.

They will kill off ¹⁰  your sons and your daughters.

They will eat up your sheep and your cattle.

They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. ¹¹ 

Their weapons will batter down ¹² 

the fortified cities you trust in.

5:18 Yet even then ¹³  I will not completely destroy you,” says the Lord.

[4:27]  ¹ tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”

[5:10]  ² tn These words to not appear in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for the sake of clarity to identify the implied addressee.

[5:10]  ³ tn Heb “through her vine rows and destroy.” No object is given but “vines” must be implicit. The word for “vineyards” (or “vine rows”) is a hapax legomenon and its derivation is debated. BDB 1004 s.v. שּׁוּרָה repoints שָׁרוֹתֶיהָ (sharoteha) to שֻׁרוֹתֶיהָ (shuroteha) and relates it to a Mishnaic Hebrew and Palestinian Aramaic word meaning “row.” HALOT 1348 s.v. שּׁוּרָה also repoints to שֻׁרוֹתֶיהָ and relates it to a noun meaning “wall,” preferring to see the reference here to the walled terraces on which the vineyards were planted. The difference in meaning is minimal.

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “for they do not belong to the Lord.” In the light of the context and Jeremiah’s identification of Israel as a vine (cf., e.g., 2:21) and a vineyard (cf., e.g., 12:10), it is likely that this verse has a totally metaphorical significance. The enemy is to go through the vineyard that is Israel and Judah and destroy all those who have been unfaithful to the Lord. It is not impossible, however, that the verse has a double meaning, a literal one and a figurative one: the enemy is not only to destroy Israel and Judah’s vines but to destroy Israel and Judah, lopping off the wicked Israelites who, because of their covenant unfaithfulness, the Lord has disowned. If the verse is totally metaphorical one might translate: “Pass through my vineyard, Israel and Judah, wreaking destruction. But do not destroy all of the people. Cut down like branches those unfaithful people because they no longer belong to the Lord.”

[5:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Behold!”

[5:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[5:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “All of them are mighty warriors.”

[5:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “his quiver [is] an open grave.” The order of the lines has been reversed to make the transition from “nation” to “their arrows” easier.

[5:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “eat up.”

[5:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “eat up your grapes and figs”; Heb “eat up your vines and your fig trees.”

[5:17]  sn It was typical for an army in time of war in the ancient Near East not only to eat up the crops but to destroy the means of further production.

[5:17]  ¹² tn Heb “They will beat down with the sword.” The term “sword” is a figure of speech (synecdoche) for military weapons in general. Siege ramps, not swords, beat down city walls; swords kill people, not city walls.

[5:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “in those days.”