Yeremia 2:36

2:36 Why do you constantly go about

changing your political allegiances? ¹ 

You will get no help from Egypt

just as you got no help from Assyria. ² 

Yeremia 6:21

6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:

‘I will assuredly ³  make these people stumble to their doom. ⁴ 

Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ⁵ 

Friends and neighbors will die.’

Yeremia 9:4

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ⁶ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ⁷ 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Yeremia 10:2

10:2 The Lord says,

“Do not start following pagan religious practices. ⁸ 

Do not be in awe of signs that occur ⁹  in the sky

even though the nations hold them in awe.

Yeremia 15:7

15:7 The Lord continued, ¹⁰ 

“In every town in the land I will purge them

like straw blown away by the wind. ¹¹ 

I will destroy my people.

I will kill off their children.

I will do so because they did not change their behavior. ¹² 

Yeremia 16:12

16:12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. ¹³ 

Yeremia 22:21

22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ¹⁴ 

But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”

That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ¹⁵ 

Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

Yeremia 26:13

26:13 But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. ¹⁶  Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 32:39

32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ¹⁸  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Yeremia 41:6

41:6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them. He was pretending to cry ¹⁹  as he walked along. When he met them, he said to them, “Come with me to meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ²⁰ 

Yeremia 50:6

50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds ²¹  have allow them to go astray.

They have wandered around in the mountains.

They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. ²² 

They have forgotten their resting place.

[2:36]  ¹ tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”

[2:36]  ² tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”

[6:21]  ³ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle rendered “behold” joined to the first person pronoun.

[6:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will put stumbling blocks in front of these people.” In this context the stumbling blocks are the invading armies.

[6:21]  ⁵ tn The words “and fall to their destruction” are implicit in the metaphor and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

[9:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[9:4]  sn There is perhaps an intentional pun and allusion here to Gen 27:36 and the wordplay on the name Jacob there. The text here reads עָקוֹב יַעְקֹב (’aqob ya’qob).

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “Do not learn the way of the nations.” For this use of the word “ways” (דֶּרֶךְ, derekh) compare for example Jer 12:16 and Isa 2:6.

[10:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “signs.” The words “that occur” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:2]  sn The Hebrew word translated here “things that go on in the sky” (אֹתוֹת, ’otot) refers both to unusual disturbances such as eclipses, comets, meteors, etc., but also to such things as the changes in the position of the sun, moon, and stars in conjunction with the changes in seasons (cf. Gen 1:14). The people of Assyria and Babylonia worshiped the sun, moon, and stars, thinking that these heavenly bodies had some hold over them.

[15:7]  ¹⁰ tn The words “The Lord continued” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to show the shift back to talking about the people instead of addressing them. The obvious speaker is the Lord; the likely listener is Jeremiah as in vv. 1-4.

[15:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.” The word “gates” is here being used figuratively for the cities, the part for the whole. See 14:2 and the notes there.

[15:7]  sn Like straw blown away by the wind. A figurative use of the process of winnowing is referred to here. Winnowing was the process whereby a mixture of grain and straw was thrown up into the wind to separate the grain from the straw and the husks. The best description of the major steps in threshing and winnowing grain in the Bible is seen in another figurative passage in Isa 41:15-16.

[15:7]  ¹² tn Or “did not repent of their wicked ways”; Heb “They did not turn back from their ways.” There is no casual particle here (either כִּי [ki], which is more formally casual, or וְ [vÿ], which sometimes introduces casual circumstantial clauses). The causal idea is furnished by the connection of ideas. If the verbs throughout this section are treated as pasts and this section seen as a lament, then the clause could be sequential: “but they still did not turn…”

[16:12]  ¹³ sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.

[22:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.

[22:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.

[26:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Make good your ways and your actions.” For the same expression see 7:3, 5; 18:11.

[26:13]  ¹⁷ tn For the idiom and translation of terms involved here see 18:8 and the translator’s note there.

[26:13]  sn The Lord is being consistent in the application of the principle laid down in Jer 18:7-8 that reformation of character will result in the withdrawal of the punishment of “uprooting, tearing down, destroying.” His prophecies of doom are conditional threats, open to change with change in behavior.

[32:39]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the Lord. The Hebrew sentence has been broken up to avoid a long complex sentence in English which is contrary to contemporary English style. However, an attempt has been made to preserve all the connections of the original.

[32:39]  sn Other passages also speak about the “single-minded purpose” (Heb “one heart”) and “living in a way that shows respect for me.” Deut 30:6-8 speaks of a circumcised heart that will love him, obey him, and keep his commands. Ezek 11:20-21 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a single-minded, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit that will follow his decrees and keep his laws. Ezek 36:26-27 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a new, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit and an infusion of God’s own spirit so that they will be able to follow his decrees and keep his laws. Jer 24:7 speaks of the giving of a (new) heart so that they might “know” him. And Jer 31:33 speaks of God writing his law on their hearts. All this shows that there is a new motivation and a new enablement for fulfilling the old stipulations, especially that of whole-hearted devotion to him (cf. Deut 6:4-6).

[41:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he was weeping/crying.” The translation is intended to better reflect the situation.

[41:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” The words that are supplied in the translation are implicit to the situation and are added for clarity.

[50:6]  ²¹ sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).

[50:6]  ²² sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).