Yeremia 2:31

2:31 You people of this generation,

listen to what the Lord says.

“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?

Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹ 

Why then do you ²  say, ‘We are free to wander. ³ 

We will not come to you any more?’

Yeremia 3:2

3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. ⁴ 

You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. ⁵ 

You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. ⁶ 

You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. ⁷ 

Yeremia 4:11

4:11 “At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem ⁸  will be told,

‘A scorching wind will sweep down

from the hilltops in the desert on ⁹  my dear people. ¹⁰ 

It will not be a gentle breeze

for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. ¹¹ 

Yeremia 9:12

9:12 I said, ¹² 

“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ¹³ 

Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ¹⁴ 

Why does the land lie in ruins?

Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

Yeremia 13:27

13:27 People of Jerusalem, ¹⁵  I have seen your adulterous worship,

your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ¹⁶ 

I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ¹⁷ 

on the hills throughout the countryside.

You are doomed to destruction! ¹⁸ 

How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Yeremia 25:37

25:37 Their peaceful dwelling places will be laid waste ¹⁹ 

by the fierce anger of the Lord. ²⁰ 

[2:31]  ¹ tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.

[2:31]  ² tn Heb “my people.”

[2:31]  ³ tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and see.”

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Where have you not been ravished?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “nowhere,” which suggests she has engaged in the worship of pagan gods on every one of the hilltops.

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “You sat for them [the lovers, i.e., the foreign gods] beside the road like an Arab in the desert.”

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,” one expresses the main idea and the other qualifies it.

[4:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”

[4:11]  sn The allusion is, of course, to the destructive forces of the enemy armies of Babylon compared above in 4:7 to a destructive lion and here to the destructive desert winds of the Near Eastern sirocco.

[4:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common expression “daughter of Zion.”

[4:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹² tn The words, “I said” are not in the text. It is not clear that a shift in speaker has taken place. However, the words of the verse are very unlikely to be a continuation of the Lord’s threat. It is generally assumed that these are the words of Jeremiah and that a dialogue is going on between him and the Lord in vv. 9-14. That assumption is accepted here.

[9:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who is the wise man that he may understand this?”

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And [who is the man] to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may explain it?”

[13:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Jerusalem.” This word has been pulled up from the end of the verse to help make the transition. The words “people of” have been supplied in the translation here to ease the difficulty mentioned earlier of sustaining the personification throughout.

[13:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[I have seen] your adulteries, your neighings, and your shameless prostitution.” The meanings of the metaphorical references have been incorporated in the translation for the sake of clarity for readers of all backgrounds.

[13:27]  sn The sentence is rhetorically loaded. It begins with three dangling objects of the verb all describing their adulterous relationship with the false gods under different figures and which are resumed later under the words “your disgusting acts.” The Hebrew sentence reads: “Your adulteries, your neighings, your shameful prostitution, upon the hills in the fields I have seen your disgusting acts.” This sentence drips with explosive disgust at their adulterous betrayal.

[13:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your disgusting acts.” This word is almost always used of idolatry or of the idols themselves. See BDB 1055 s.v. שִׁקֻּוּץ and Deut 29:17 and Jer 4:1; 7:30.

[13:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Woe to you!”

[13:27]  sn See Jer 4:13, 31; 6:4; 10:19 for usage, and the notes on 4:13 and 10:19.

[25:37]  ¹⁹ tn For this meaning of the verb used here see HALOT 217 s.v. דָּמַם Nif. Elsewhere it refers to people dying (see, e.g., Jer 49:26; 50:30) hence some see a reference to “lifeless.”

[25:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “because of the burning anger of the Lord.”