Yeremia 29:1

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

29:1 The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem ¹  to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon. ² 

Yeremia 25:8

25:8 “Therefore, the Lord who rules over all ³  says, ‘You have not listened to what I said. ⁴ 

Yeremia 19:4

19:4 I will do so because these people ⁵  have rejected me and have defiled ⁶  this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors ⁷  nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. ⁸ 

Yeremia 44:3

44:3 This happened because of the wickedness the people living there did. ⁹  They made me angry ¹⁰  by worshiping and offering sacrifice to ¹¹  other gods whom neither they nor you nor your ancestors ¹²  previously knew. ¹³ 

[29:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[29:1]  ² tn Jer 29:1-3 are all one long sentence in Hebrew containing a parenthetical insertion. The text reads “These are the words of the letter which the prophet Jeremiah sent to the elders…people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon after King Jeconiah…had gone from Jerusalem by the hand of Elasah…whom Zedekiah sent…saying, ‘Thus says the Lord…’” The sentence has been broken up for the sake of contemporary English style and clarity.

[25:8]  ³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:8]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for an explanation of this title.

[25:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “You have not listened to my words.”

[19:4]  ⁵ tn The text merely has “they.” But since a reference is made later to “they” and “their ancestors,” the referent must be to the people that the leaders of the people and leaders of the priests represent.

[19:4]  ⁶ sn Heb “have made this city foreign.” The verb here is one that is built off of the noun and adjective which relate to foreign nations. Comparison may be made to Jer 2:21 where the adjective refers to the strange, wild vine as opposed to the choice vine the Lord planted and to 5:19 and 8:19 where the noun is used of worshiping foreign gods. Israel through its false worship has “denationalized” itself in its relation to God.

[19:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

[19:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the blood of innocent ones.” This must be a reference to child sacrifice as explained in the next verse. Some have seen a reference to the sins of social injustice alluded to in 2 Kgs 21:16 and 24:4 but those are connected with the city itself. Hence the word children is supplied in the translation to make the referent explicit.

[44:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “they.” The referent must be supplied from the preceding, i.e., Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. “They” are those who have experienced the disaster and are distinct from those being addressed and their ancestors (44:3b).

[44:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “thus making me angry.” However, this is a good place to break the sentence to create a shorter sentence that is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[44:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by going to offer sacrifice in serving/worshiping.” The second לְ (lamed) + infinitive is epexegetical of the first (cf. IBHS 608-9 §36.2.3e).

[44:3]  ¹² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 10, 17, 21).

[44:3]  ¹³ sn Compare Jer 19:4 for the same thought and see also 7:9.