Yeremia 3:15

3:15 I will give you leaders ¹  who will be faithful to me. ²  They will lead you with knowledge and insight.

Yeremia 6:27

6:27 The Lord said to me, ³ 

“I have made you like a metal assayer

to test my people like ore. ⁴ 

You are to observe them

and evaluate how they behave.” ⁵ 

Yeremia 9:18

9:18 I said, “Indeed, ⁶  let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.

Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes

and our eyelids overflow with water.

Yeremia 12:8

12:8 The people I call my own ⁷  have turned on me

like a lion ⁸  in the forest.

They have roared defiantly ⁹  at me.

So I will treat them as though I hate them. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 19:2

19:2 Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley which is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. ¹¹  Announce there what I tell you. ¹² 

Yeremia 38:13

38:13 So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined ¹³  to the courtyard of the guardhouse.

Yeremia 41:12

41:12 So they took all their troops and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the large pool ¹⁴  at Gibeon.

Yeremia 41:17

41:17 They set out to go to Egypt to get away from the Babylonians, ¹⁵  but stopped at Geruth Kimham ¹⁶  near Bethlehem. ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 46:8

46:8 Egypt rises like the Nile,

like its streams turbulent at flood stage.

Egypt says, ‘I will arise and cover the earth.

I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them.’

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[3:15]  ² tn Heb “after/according to my [own] heart.”

[6:27]  ³ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity. Note “I have appointed you.” Compare Jer 1:18.

[6:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “I have made you an assayer of my people, a tester [?].” The meaning of the words translated “assayer” (בָּחוֹן, bakhon) and “tester” (מִבְצָר, mivtsar) is uncertain. The word בָּחוֹן (bakhon) can mean “tower” (cf. BDB 103 s.v. בָּחוֹן; cf. Isa 23:13 for the only other use) or “assayer” (cf. BDB 103 s.v. בָּחוֹן). The latter would be the more expected nuance because of the other uses of nouns and verbs from this root. The word מִבְצָר (mivtsar) normally means “fortress” (cf. BDB 131 s.v. מִבְצָר), but most modern commentaries and lexicons deem that nuance inappropriate here. HALOT follows a proposal that the word is to be repointed to מְבַצֵּר (mÿvatser) and derived from a root בָּצַר (batsar) meaning “to test” (cf. HALOT 143 s.v. IV בָּצַר). That proposal makes the most sense in the context, but the root appears nowhere else in the OT.

[6:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “test their way.”

[9:18]  ⁶ tn The words “And I said, ‘Indeed” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to try and help clarify who the speaker is who identifies with the lament of the people.

[12:8]  ⁷ tn See the note on the previous verse.

[12:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “have become to me like a lion.”

[12:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “have given against me with her voice.”

[12:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “so I will reject her.” The word “hate” is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to being neglected, i.e., treated as though unloved. In these contexts it does not have the same emotive connotations that a typical modern reader would associate with hate. See Gen 29:31, 33 and E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 556.

[19:2]  ¹¹ sn The exact location of the Potsherd Gate is unknown since it is nowhere else mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is sometimes identified with the Dung Gate mentioned in Neh 2:13; 3:13-14; 12:31 on the basis of the Jerusalem Targum. It is probably called “Potsherd Gate” because that is where the potter threw out the broken pieces of pottery which were no longer of use to him. The Valley of Ben Hinnom has already been mentioned in 7:31-32 in connection with the illicit religious practices, including child sacrifice, which took place there. The Valley of Ben Hinnom (or sometimes Valley of Hinnom) runs along the west and south sides of Jerusalem.

[19:2]  ¹² tn Heb “the words that I will speak to you.”

[38:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “Jeremiah remained/stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.” The translation is meant to better reflect the situation; i.e., Jeremiah was released from the cistern but still had to stay in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

[41:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the many [or great] waters.” This is generally identified with the pool of Gibeon mentioned in 2 Sam 2:13.

[41:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[41:17]  ¹⁶ sn Geruth Kimham is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible and its precise location is unknown. Many commentators relate the second part of the name to the name of the son of David’s benefactor when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam 19:38-39) and see this as a reference to an estate that David assigned this son as reward for his father’s largess. Gibeon was about six miles northwest of Jerusalem and Benjamin is approximately the same distance southwest of it. Hence, the people mentioned here had not traveled all that far.

[41:17]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.