Yeremia 5:4

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹ 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ² 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

Yeremia 11:12

11:12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will ⁴  go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means ⁵  be able to save them when disaster strikes them.

Yeremia 27:10

27:10 Do not listen to them, ⁶  because their prophecies are lies. ⁷  Listening to them will only cause you ⁸  to be taken far away from your native land. I will drive you out of your country and you will die in exile. ⁹ 

Yeremia 27:14

27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve ¹⁰  the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

[5:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[11:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Then the towns of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will…”

[11:12]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic involving the use of an infinitive of the verb before the verb itself (Heb “saving they will not save”). For this construction to give emphasis to an antithesis, cf. GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:10]  ⁶ tn The words “Don’t listen to them” have been repeated from v. 9a to pick up the causal connection between v. 9a and v. 10 that is formally introduced by a causal particle in v. 10 in the original text.

[27:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “they are prophesying a lie.”

[27:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “lies will result in your being taken far…” (לְמַעַן [lÿma’an] + infinitive). This is a rather clear case of the particle לְמַעַן introducing result (contra BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. There is no irony in this statement; it is a bold prediction).

[27:10]  ⁹ tn The words “out of your country” are not in the text but are implicit in the meaning of the verb. The words “in exile” are also not in the text but are implicit in the context. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:14]  ¹⁰ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.