Yeremia 11:20

11:20 So I said to the Lord, ¹ 

“O Lord who rules over all, ²  you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds. ³ 

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ⁴ 

Yeremia 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ⁵  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ⁶  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ⁷  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ⁸  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

[11:20]  ¹ tn The words “So I said to the Lord” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift in address.

[11:20]  ² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:20]  sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.

[11:20]  ³ tn Heb “Lord of armies, just judge, tester of kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style. In Hebrew thought the “kidneys” were thought of as the seat of the emotions and passions and the “heart” was viewed as the seat of intellect, conscience, and will. The “heart” and the “kidneys” are often used figuratively for the thoughts, emotions, motives, and drives that are thought to be seated in them.

[11:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

[18:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.