Yeremia 6:10

6:10 I answered, ¹ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ² 

Their ears are so closed ³ 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

Yeremia 11:14

11:14 So, Jeremiah, ⁶  do not pray for these people. Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf. Do not plead with me to save them. ⁷  For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.” ⁸ 

Yeremia 15:3

15:3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ⁹ 

Yeremia 32:5

32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ¹⁰  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹¹  Even if you ¹²  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ¹³  you cannot win.’”

Yeremia 44:29

44:29 Moreover the Lord says, ¹⁴  ‘I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true. ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 48:12

48:12 But the time is coming when I will send

men against Moab who will empty it out.

They will empty the towns of their people,

then will lay those towns in ruins. ¹⁶ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 50:20

50:20 When that time comes,

no guilt will be found in Israel.

No sin will be found in Judah. ¹⁸ 

For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. ¹⁹ 

I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ²⁰ 

[6:10]  ¹ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ² tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ³ tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[11:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “you.”

[11:14]  ⁷ tn The words “to save them” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:14]  sn Cf. Jer 7:16 where this same command is addressed to Jeremiah.

[11:14]  ⁸ tc The rendering “when disaster strikes them” is based on reading “at the time of” (בְּעֵת, bÿ’et) with a number of Hebrew mss and the versions instead of “on account of” (בְּעַד, bÿ’ad). W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:347) is probably right in assuming that the MT has been influenced by “for them” (בַעֲדָם, va’adam) earlier in the verse.

[15:3]  ⁹ tn The translation attempts to render in understandable English some rather unusual uses of terms here. The verb translated “punish” is often used that way (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3 and compare usage in Jer 11:22, 13:21). However, here it is accompanied by a direct object and a preposition meaning “over” which is usually used in the sense of appointing someone over someone (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.B.1 and compare usage in Jer 51:27). Moreover the word translated “different ways” normally refers to “families,” “clans,” or “guilds” (cf. BDB 1046-47 s.v. מִשְׁפָּחָה for usage). Hence the four things mentioned are referred to figuratively as officers or agents into whose power the Lord consigns them. The Hebrew text reads: “I will appoint over them four guilds, the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.”

[32:5]  ¹⁰ tn This is the verb (פָּקַד, paqad) that has been met with several times in the book of Jeremiah, most often in the ominous sense of “punish” (e.g., 6:15; 11:22; 23:24) but also in the good sense of “resume concern for” (e.g., 27:22; 29:10). Here it is obviously in the ominous sense referring to his imprisonment and ultimate death (52:11).

[32:5]  sn Compare Jer 34:2-3 for this same prophecy. The incident in Jer 34:1-7 appears to be earlier than this one. Here Jeremiah is confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse; there he appears to have freedom of movement.

[32:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:5]  ¹² sn The pronouns are plural here, referring to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah had counseled that they surrender (cf. 27:12; 21:8-10) because they couldn’t succeed against the Babylonian army even under the most favorable circumstances (37:3-10).

[32:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[44:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[44:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “This will be to you the sign, oracle of the Lord, that I will punish you in this place in order that you may know that my threats against you for evil/disaster/harm will certainly stand [see the translator’s note on the preceding verse for the meaning of this word here].” The word “sign” refers to an event that is a pre-omen or portent of something that will happen later (see BDB 16 s.v. אוֹת 2 and compare usage in 1 Sam 14:10; 2 Kgs 19:29). The best way to carry that idea across in this context seems to be “I will make something happen to prove [or portend].” Another possibility would be “I will give you a pre-omen that,” but many readers would probably not be familiar with “omen/pre-omen.” Again the sentence has been broken in two and restructured to better conform with English style.

[48:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Therefore, behold the days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will send against him decanters [those who pour from one vessel to another] and they will decant him [pour him out] and they will empty his vessels and break their jars in pieces.” The verse continues the metaphor from the preceding verse where Moab/the people of Moab are like wine left undisturbed in a jar, i.e., in their native land. In this verse the picture is that of the decanter emptying the wine from the vessels and then breaking the jars. The wine represents the people and the vessels the cities and towns where the people lived. The verse speaks of the exile of the people and the devastation of the land. The metaphor has been interpreted so it conveys meaning to the average reader.

[48:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[50:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “In those days and at that time, oracle of the Lord, the iniquity [or guilt] of Israel will be sought but there will be none and the sins of Judah but they will not be found.” The passive construction “will be sought” raises the question of who is doing the seeking which is not really the main point. The translation has avoided this question by simply referring to the result which is the main point.

[50:20]  ¹⁹ sn Compare Jer 31:34 and 33:8.

[50:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” In this case it is necessary to place this in the first person because this is already in a quote whose speaker is identified as the Lord (v. 18).