Yeremia 35:7

35:7 Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. ¹  Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will ²  live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’ ³ 

Yeremia 40:10

40:10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians ⁴  whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, ⁵  and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” ⁶ 

[35:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Don’t plant a vineyard and it shall not be to you [= and you shall/must not have one].”

[35:7]  ² tn Heb “Don’t…and don’t…but live…in order that you might….”

[35:7]  ³ sn Heb “where you are sojourning.” The terms “sojourn” and “sojourner” referred to a person who resided in a country not his own, without the rights and privileges of citizenship as a member of a nation, state, or principality. In the ancient Near East such people were dependent on the laws of hospitality rather than the laws of state for protection and provision of legal rights. Perhaps the best illustration of this is Abraham who “sojourned” among the Philistines and the Hittites in Canaan and was dependent upon them for grazing and water rights and for a place to bury his wife (cf. Gen 20-24). What is described here is the typical lifestyle of a nomadic tribe.

[40:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[40:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

[40:10]  ⁶ tn This plus “Things will go well with you” is in essence the substance of the oath. The pronouns are emphatic, “And I, behold I will stay…and you, you may gather.” The imperatives in the second half of the verse are more a form of permission than of command or advice (cf. NJPS, REB, TEV and compare the usage in 40:4 and the references in the translator’s note there).