Yeremia 11:12

11:12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will ¹  go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means ²  be able to save them when disaster strikes them.

Yeremia 14:8

14:8 You have been the object of Israel’s hopes.

You have saved them when they were in trouble.

Why have you become like a resident foreigner ³  in the land?

Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

Yeremia 50:4

50:4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, ⁴ 

“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.

They will come back with tears of repentance

as they seek the Lord their God. ⁵ 

Yeremia 50:20

50:20 When that time comes,

no guilt will be found in Israel.

No sin will be found in Judah. ⁶ 

For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. ⁷ 

I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ⁸ 

[11:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Then the towns of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will…”

[11:12]  ² tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic involving the use of an infinitive of the verb before the verb itself (Heb “saving they will not save”). For this construction to give emphasis to an antithesis, cf. GKC 343 §113.p.

[14:8]  ³ tn It would be a mistake to translate this word as “stranger.” This word (גֵּר, ger) refers to a resident alien or resident foreigner who stays in a country not his own. He is accorded the privilege of protection through the common rights of hospitality but he does not have the rights of the native born or citizen. The simile here is particularly effective. The land was the Lord’s land; they were but resident foreigners and tenants on it (Lev 25:23). Jeremiah’s complaint here is particularly bold. For further information on the status of “resident foreigners” see IDB 4:397-99 s.v. “Sojourner.”

[50:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[50:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. They shall go, weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.” The concept of “seeking” the Lord often has to do with seeking the Lord in worship (by sacrifice [Hos 5:6; 2 Chr 11:16]; prayer [Zech 8:21, 22; 2 Sam 12:16; Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:4]). In Hos 7:10 it is in parallel with returning to the Lord. In Ps 69:6 it is in parallel with hoping in or trusting in the Lord. Perhaps the most helpful parallels here, however, are Hos 3:5 (in comparison with Jer 30:9) and 2 Chr 15:15 where it is in the context of a covenant commitment to be loyal to the Lord which is similar to the context here (see the next verse). The translation is admittedly paraphrastic but “seeking the Lord” does not mean here looking for God as though he were merely a person to be found.

[50:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “In those days and at that time, oracle of the Lord, the iniquity [or guilt] of Israel will be sought but there will be none and the sins of Judah but they will not be found.” The passive construction “will be sought” raises the question of who is doing the seeking which is not really the main point. The translation has avoided this question by simply referring to the result which is the main point.

[50:20]  ⁷ sn Compare Jer 31:34 and 33:8.

[50:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” In this case it is necessary to place this in the first person because this is already in a quote whose speaker is identified as the Lord (v. 18).