Yeremia 3:1
Konteks3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again. 1
Doing that would utterly defile the land. 2
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. 3
So what makes you think you can return to me?” 4
says the Lord.
Yeremia 3:19
Konteks‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! 6
What a joy it would be for me to give 7 you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ 8
I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ 9
and would never cease being loyal to me. 10
Yeremia 5:6
Konteks5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.
Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.
Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities
and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. 11
For they have rebelled so much
and done so many unfaithful things. 12
Yeremia 11:5
Konteks11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” 13 That is the very land that you still live in today.’” 14 And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, 15 Lord!”
Yeremia 11:7
Konteks11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. 16 I warned them again and again, 17 ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.
Yeremia 11:17
Konteks11:17 For though I, the Lord who rules over all, 18 planted you in the land, 19
I now decree that disaster will come on you 20
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.” 21
Yeremia 11:19
Konteks11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me. 22
I did not know they were saying, 23
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! 24
Let’s remove Jeremiah 25 from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” 26
Yeremia 13:10
Konteks13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. 27 They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance 28 to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So 29 they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.
Yeremia 13:27
Konteks13:27 People of Jerusalem, 30 I have seen your adulterous worship,
your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. 31
I have seen your disgusting acts of worship 32
on the hills throughout the countryside.
You are doomed to destruction! 33
How long will you continue to be unclean?’”
Yeremia 15:15
Konteks“Lord, you know how I suffer. 35
Take thought of me and care for me.
Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me.
Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me.
Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.
Yeremia 16:10
Konteks16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, 36 they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’
Yeremia 17:4
Konteks17:4 You will lose your hold on the land 37
which I gave to you as a permanent possession.
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about.
For you have made my anger burn like a fire that will never be put out.” 38
Yeremia 17:25
Konteks17:25 If you do this, 39 then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession 40 and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. 41 This city will always be filled with people. 42
Yeremia 19:9
Konteks19:9 I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.”’” 43
Yeremia 19:15
Konteks19:15 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 44 says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it 45 all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused 46 to pay any attention to what I have said!’”
Yeremia 25:5
Konteks25:5 He said through them, 47 ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. 48 If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. 49
Yeremia 28:6
Konteks28:6 The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile.
Yeremia 29:31
Konteks29:31 “Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. 50
Yeremia 30:21
Konteks30:21 One of their own people will be their leader.
Their ruler will come from their own number. 51
I will invite him to approach me, and he will do so. 52
For no one would dare approach me on his own. 53
I, the Lord, affirm it! 54
Yeremia 31:32-33
Konteks31:32 It will not be like the old 55 covenant that I made with their ancestors 56 when I delivered them 57 from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” 58 says the Lord. 59 31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel 60 after I plant them back in the land,” 61 says the Lord. 62 “I will 63 put my law within them 64 and write it on their hearts and minds. 65 I will be their God and they will be my people. 66
Yeremia 31:40
Konteks31:40 The whole valley where dead bodies and sacrificial ashes are thrown 67 and all the terraced fields 68 out to the Kidron Valley 69 on the east as far north 70 as the Horse Gate 71 will be included within this city that is sacred to the Lord. 72 The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”
Yeremia 36:2
Konteks36:2 “Get a scroll. 73 Write on it everything I have told you to say 74 about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. 75
Yeremia 38:25
Konteks38:25 The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. 76 Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.’ 77
Yeremia 38:27
Konteks38:27 All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah. 78 He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. 79 They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation. 80
Yeremia 48:32
Konteks48:32 I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. 81
Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea. 82
They reached as far as the town of Jazer. 83
The destroyer will ravage
her fig, date, 84 and grape crops.
Yeremia 48:34
Konteks48:34 Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh
will be sounded as far as Jahaz. 85
They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
Yeremia 49:5
Konteks49:5 I will bring terror on you from every side,”
says the Lord God who rules over all. 86
“You will be scattered in every direction. 87
No one will gather the fugitives back together.
Yeremia 51:46
Konteks51:46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid
because of the reports that are heard in the land.
For a report will come in one year.
Another report will follow it in the next.
There will be violence in the land
with ruler fighting against ruler.”
[3:1] 1 tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
[3:1] sn For the legal background for the illustration that is used here see Deut 24:1-4.
[3:1] 2 tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
[3:1] 3 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
[3:1] 4 tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.
[3:19] 5 tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.
[3:19] 6 tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the
[3:19] sn The imagery here appears to be that of treating the wife as an equal heir with the sons and of giving her the best piece of property.
[3:19] 7 tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.
[3:19] 8 tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”
[3:19] 10 tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”
[5:6] 11 tn Heb “So a lion from the thicket will kill them. A wolf from the desert will destroy them. A leopard will watch outside their cities. Anyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces.” However, it is unlikely that, in the context of judgment that Jeremiah has previously been describing, literal lions are meant. The animals are metaphorical for their enemies. Compare Jer 4:7.
[5:6] 12 tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”
[11:5] 13 tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”
[11:5] 14 tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.
[11:5] 15 tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.
[11:5] sn The word amen is found at the end of each of the curses in Deut 27 where the people express their agreement with the appropriateness of the curse for the offense mentioned.
[11:7] 16 tn Heb “warned them…saying, ‘Obey me.’” However, it allows the long sentence to be broken up easier if the indirect quote is used.
[11:7] 17 tn For the explanation for this rendering see the note on 7:13.
[11:17] 18 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
[11:17] sn For the significance of the term see the notes at 2:19 and 7:3.
[11:17] 19 tn The words “in the land” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.
[11:17] 20 tn Heb “For Yahweh of armies who planted you speaks disaster upon you.” Because of the way the term
[11:17] 21 tn Heb “pronounced disaster…on account of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah which they have done to make me angry [or thus making me angry] by sacrificing to Baal.” The lines have been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.
[11:19] 22 tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[11:19] 23 tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[11:19] 24 tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).
[11:19] sn The word fruit refers contextually here to the prophecies that Jeremiah was giving, not (as some suppose) his progeny. Jeremiah was not married and had no children.
[11:19] 25 tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.
[11:19] 26 tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”
[13:10] 27 tn Heb “to listen to my words.”
[13:10] 28 tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.
[13:10] 29 tn The structure of this verse is a little unusual. It consists of a subject, “this wicked people” qualified by several “which” clauses preceding a conjunction and a form which would normally be taken as a third person imperative (a Hebrew jussive; וִיהִי, vihi). This construction, called casus pendens by Hebrew grammarians, lays focus on the subject, here calling attention to the nature of Israel’s corruption which makes it rotten and useless to God. See GKC 458 §143.d for other examples of this construction.
[13:27] 30 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] 31 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] 32 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] 33 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.
[15:15] 34 tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to mark the shift from the
[15:15] 35 tn The words “how I suffer” are not in the text but are implicit from the continuation. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not saying “you are all knowing.”
[16:10] 36 tn Heb “all these words/things.”
[16:10] sn The actions of the prophet would undoubtedly elicit questions about his behavior and he would have occasion to explain the reason.
[17:4] 37 tc Or “Through your own fault you will lose the land…” As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:386) notes the ancient versions do not appear to be reading וּבְךָ (uvÿkha) as in the MT but possibly לְבַדְּךָ (lÿvaddÿkha; see BHS fn). The translation follows the suggestion in BHS fn that יָדְךָ (yadÿkha, literally “your hand”) be read for MT וּבְךָ. This has the advantage of fitting the idiom of this verb with “hand” in Deut 15:2 (see also v. 3 there). The Hebrew text thus reads “You will release your hand from your heritage.”
[17:4] 38 tc A few Hebrew
[17:4] tn Heb “you have started a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”
[17:25] 39 tn Heb “If you will carefully obey me by not bringing…and by sanctifying…by not doing…, then kings will….” The structure of prohibitions and commands followed by a brief “if” clause has been used to break up a long condition and consequence relationship which is contrary to contemporary English style.
[17:25] 40 tn Heb “who sit [or are to sit] on David’s throne.”
[17:25] 41 tn Heb “There will come through the gates of this city the kings and princes…riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials…” The structure of the original text is broken up here because of the long compound subject which would make the English sentence too long. The term “princes” is often omitted as a supposed double writing of the word that follows it and looks somewhat like it (the Hebrew reads here וְשָׂרִים יֹשְׁבִים, vÿsarim yoshÿvim) or the same word which occurs later in the verse and is translated “officials” (the word can refer to either). It is argued that “princes” are never said to sit on the throne of David (translated here “follow in the succession of David”). However, the word is in all texts and versions and the concept of sitting on the throne of someone is descriptive of both past, present, and future and is even used with the participle in a proleptic sense of “the one who is to sit on the throne” (cf. Exod 11:5; 12:29).
[17:25] 42 tn Heb “will be inhabited forever.”
[19:9] 43 tn This verse has been restructured to try to bring out the proper thought and subordinations reflected in the verse without making the sentence too long and complex in English: Heb “I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. And they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the straits which their enemies who are seeking their lives reduce them to.” This also shows the agency through which God’s causation was effected, i.e., the siege.
[19:9] sn Cannibalism is one of the penalties for disobedience to their covenant with the
[19:15] 44 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
[19:15] sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this title.
[19:15] 45 tn Heb “all its towns.”
[19:15] 46 tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”
[25:5] 47 tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”
[25:5] 48 tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.
[25:5] 49 tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.
[29:31] 50 tn Or “is giving you false assurances.”
[30:21] 51 sn The statement their ruler will come from their own number accords with the regulation in Deut 17:15. They would not be ruled by a foreign leader but by one of their own people. In v. 9 he is specifically said to come from the Davidic line. See the study note there.
[30:21] 52 sn Ordinarily this prerogative was confined to the priests and the Levites and even then under strict regulations (cf., e.g., Num 8:19; 16:10; Lev 16:10; 21:17; 22:3). Uzziah king of Judah violated this and suffered leprosy for having done so (2 Chr 26:16-20). It is clear, however, that both David and Solomon on occasion exercised priestly functions in the presence of the ark or the altar which it was normally lawful for only the priests to approach (cf., e.g., 2 Sam 6:13-14; 1 Kgs 8:22, 54-55). Here reference is probably not to the normal prerogatives of offering sacrifice or burning incense but access to God’s special presence at special times for the purpose of consultation.
[30:21] 53 tn Heb “For who is he who would pledge his heart to draw near to me.” The question is a rhetorical one expecting the answer “no one” and is a way of expressing an emphatic negative (see BDB 566 s.v. מִי f[c]). The concept of “pledging” something refers to putting up security in guarantee of payment. Here the word is used figuratively of “putting up one’s heart [i.e., his very being (cf. BDB 524 s.v. לֵב 7 and Ps 22:26)]” for the privilege of access to God. The rhetorical question denies that any one would do that if he were not bidden by God to do so.
[30:21] 54 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[31:32] 55 tn The word “old” is not in the text but is implicit in the use of the word “new.” It is supplied in the translation for greater clarity.
[31:32] sn This refers to the Mosaic covenant which the nation entered into with God at Sinai and renewed on the plains of Moab. The primary biblical passages explicating this covenant are Exod 19–24 and the book of Deuteronomy; see as well the study note on Jer 11:2 for the form this covenant took and its relation to the warnings of the prophets. The renewed document of Deuteronomy was written down and provisions made for periodic public reading and renewal of commitment to it (Deut 31:9-13). Josiah had done this after the discovery of the book of the law (which was either Deuteronomy or a synopsis of it) early in the ministry of Jeremiah (2 Kgs 23:1-4; the date would be near 622
[31:32] 57 tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”
[31:32] 58 tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.
[31:32] sn The metaphor of Yahweh as husband and Israel as wife has been used already in Jer 3 and is implicit in the repeated allusions to idolatry as spiritual adultery or prostitution. The best commentary on the faithfulness of God to his “husband-like” relation is seen in the book of Hosea, especially in Hos 1-3.
[31:32] 59 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[31:33] 60 tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.
[31:33] 61 tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.
[31:33] 62 tn Heb “Oracle of the
[31:33] 63 tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the
[31:33] 64 tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.
[31:33] 65 tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.
[31:33] sn Two contexts are relevant for understanding this statement. First is the context of the first or old covenant which was characterized by a law written on stone tablets (e.g., Exod 32:15-16; 34:1, 28; Deut 4:13; 5:22; 9:10) or in a “book” or “scroll” (Deut 31:9-13) which could be lost (cf. 2 Kgs 22:8), forgotten (Hos 4:6), ignored (Jer 6:19; Amos 4:2), or altered (Jer 8:8). Second is the context of the repeated fault that Jeremiah has found with their stubborn (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:17), uncircumcised (4:4; 9:26), and desperately wicked hearts (4:4; 17:9). Radical changes were necessary to get the people to obey the law from the heart and not just pay superficial or lip service to it (3:10; 12:2). Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28 speak of these radical changes. The
[31:33] 66 sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.
[31:40] 67 sn It is generally agreed that this refers to the Hinnom Valley which was on the southwestern and southern side of the city. It was here where the people of Jerusalem had burned their children as sacrifices and where the
[31:40] 68 tc The translation here follows the Qere and a number of Hebrew
[31:40] 69 sn The Kidron Valley is the valley that joins the Hinnom Valley in the southeastern corner of the city and runs northward on the east side of the city.
[31:40] 70 tn The words “on the east” and “north” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to give orientation.
[31:40] 71 sn The Horse Gate is mentioned in Neh 3:28 and is generally considered to have been located midway along the eastern wall just south of the temple area.
[31:40] 72 tn The words “will be included within this city that is” are not in the text. The text merely says that “The whole valley…will be sacred to the
[31:40] sn The area that is here delimited is larger than any of the known boundaries of Jerusalem during the OT period. Again, this refers to the increase in population of the restored community (cf. 31:27).
[36:2] 73 sn Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23).
[36:2] 74 sn The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the
[36:2] 75 sn This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6
[38:25] 76 tn The phrase “and what the king said to you” is actually at the end of the verse, but most commentators see it as also under the governance of “tell us” and many commentaries and English versions move the clause forward for the sake of English style as has been done here.
[38:25] 77 tn Or “lest we kill you”; Heb “and we will not kill you,” which as stated in the translator’s note on 37:20 introduces a negative purpose (or result) clause. See 37:20, 38:24 for parallel usage.
[38:27] 78 tn Heb “All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him.”
[38:27] 79 tn Heb “And he reported to them according to all these words which the king had commanded.”
[38:27] 80 tn Heb “And they were silent from him because the word/matter [i.e., the conversation between Jeremiah and the king] had not been heard.” According to BDB 578 s.v. מִן 1.a the preposition “from” is significant in this construction, implying a verb of motion. I.e., “they were [fell] silent [and turned away] from him.”
[48:32] 81 tc Or “I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah more than I will weep over the town of Jazer.” The translation here assumes that there has been a graphic confusion of מ (mem) with כְּ (kaf) or בְּ (bet). The parallel passage in Isa 16:9 has the preposition בְּ and the Greek version presupposes a comparative idea “as with.” Many of the modern English versions render the passage with the comparative מִן (min) as in the alternate translation, but it is unclear what the force of the comparison would be here. The verse is actually in the second person, an apostrophe or direct address to the grapevine(s) of Sibmah. However, the translation has retained the third person throughout because such sudden shifts in person are uncommon in contemporary English literature and retaining the third person is smoother. The Hebrew text reads: “From/With the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your tendrils crossed over the sea. They reached unto the sea of Jazer. Upon your summer fruit and your vintage [grape harvest] the destroyer has fallen.”
[48:32] 82 tn Heb “crossed over to the Sea.”
[48:32] 83 tn Or “reached the sea of Jazer.” The Sea is generally taken to be a reference to the Dead Sea. The translation presupposes that the word “sea” is to be omitted before “Jazer.” The word is missing from two Hebrew
[48:32] sn Though there is some doubt about the precise location of these places, Sibmah is generally considered to have been located slightly north and west of Heshbon and Jazer further north toward the border of Ammon not far from the city of Amman. Most commentators see the reference here (and in the parallel in Isa 16:8) to the spread of viticulture westward and northward from the vineyards of Sibmah. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 318-19), however, see the reference rather to the spread of trade in wine westward beyond the coast of the Mediterranean and eastward into the desert.
[48:32] 84 tn Heb “her summer fruit.” See the translator’s note on 40:10 for the rendering here. According to BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.4.a, the verb means to “fall upon” or “attack” but in the context it is probably metonymical for attack and destroy.
[48:34] 85 tn The meaning of this verse is very uncertain. The ambiguity of the syntax and the apparent elliptical nature of this text makes the meaning of this verse uncertain. The Hebrew text reads: “From the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh unto Jahaz they utter their voice from Zoar unto Horonaim Eglath Shelishiyah.” The translation and interpretation here are based on interpreting the elliptical syntax here by the parallel passage in Isaiah 15:4-6 where cries of anguish rise from Heshbon and Elealeh which are heard all the way to Jahaz. The people flee southward arriving at Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah where they voice the news of the destruction in the north. Hence, the present translation interprets the phrase “from the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh” to be parallel to “Heshbon and Elealeh cry out” and take the preposition “from” with the verb “they utter their voice,” i.e., with the cry of Heshbon and Elealeh. The impersonal “they raise their voice” is then treated as a passive and made the subject of the whole verse. There is some debate about the identification of the waters of Nimrim. They may refer to the waters of the Wadi Nimrim which enters the Jordan about eight miles north of the Dead Sea or those of the Wadi en-Numeirah which flows into the southern tip of the Dead Sea from about ten miles south. Most commentators take the reference to be the latter because of association with Zoar. However, if the passage is talking about the destruction in the north which is reported in the south by the fleeing refugees, the reference is probably to the Wadi Nimrim in the north.
[48:34] sn Elealeh was about two miles (3.3 km) north of Heshbon. Jahaz was about twenty miles (33 km) south of it. These three cities were in the north and Zoar, Horonaim, and Eglath Shelishiyah were apparently in the south. The verse is speaking about the news of destruction in the north spreading to the south. Comparison should be made with the parallel passage in Isa 15:4-6.
[49:5] 86 tn Heb “The Lord Yahweh of armies.” For an explanation of the rendering here and of the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.
[49:5] 87 tn Heb “You will be scattered each man [straight] before him.”
