Yeremia 10:20-22

10:20 But our tents have been destroyed.

The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. ¹ 

Our children are gone and are not coming back. ² 

There is no survivor to put our tents back up,

no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

10:21 For our leaders ³  are stupid.

They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ⁴ 

So they do not act wisely,

and the people they are responsible for ⁵  have all been scattered.

10:22 Listen! News is coming even now. ⁶ 

The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ⁷  from a land in the north. ⁸ 

It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,

places where only jackals live.

[10:20]  ¹ tn Heb “My tent has been destroyed and my tent cords have been ripped apart.” For a very similar identification of Jeremiah’s plight with the plight of the personified community see 4:20 and the notes there.

[10:20]  ² tn Heb “my children have gone from me and are no more.”

[10:20]  sn What is being referred to is the exile of the people of the land. This passage could refer to the exiles of 605 b.c., 597 b.c., or more probably be anticipatory of the exile of 588 b.c. since the “tent,” (i.e., the city) is pictured as torn down. The picture of devastation and desolation here should be contrasted with that in Isa 54:2-3.

[10:21]  ³ tn Heb “the shepherds.”

[10:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “They have not sought the Lord.”

[10:21]  sn The idiom translated sought the Lord’s advice quite commonly refers to inquiring for the Lord’s guidance through a prophet. See for example Exod 18:15; 1 Sam 9:9; 1 Kgs 22:8. It would not exclude consulting the law.

[10:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “all their flock (or “pasturage”).”

[10:21]  sn This verse uses the figure of rulers as shepherds and the people they ruled as sheep. It is a common figure in the Bible. See Ezek 34 for an extended development of this metaphor.

[10:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “The sound of a report, behold, it is coming.”

[10:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “ coming, even a great quaking.”

[10:22]  ⁸ sn Compare Jer 6:22.