Yeremia 6:11

6:11 I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ¹ 

I am tired of trying to hold it in.”

The Lord answered, ² 

“Vent it, then, ³  on the children who play in the street

and on the young men who are gathered together.

Husbands and wives are to be included, ⁴ 

as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

Yeremia 12:4

12:4 How long must the land be parched ⁵ 

and the grass in every field be withered?

How long ⁶  must the animals and the birds die

because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ⁷ 

For these people boast,

“God ⁸  will not see what happens to us.” ⁹ 

Yeremia 20:9

20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.

I will not speak as his messenger ¹⁰  any more.”

But then ¹¹  his message becomes like a fire

locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. ¹² 

I grow weary of trying to hold it in;

I cannot contain it.

Yeremia 32:24

32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹³  in order to capture it. War, ¹⁴  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ¹⁵  who are attacking it. ¹⁶  Lord, ¹⁷  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ¹⁸ 

[6:11]  ¹ tn Heb “I am full of the wrath of the Lord.”

[6:11]  ² tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the words that follow. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:11]  ³ tn Heb “Pour it out.”

[6:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “are to be captured.”

[12:4]  ⁵ tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).

[12:4]  ⁶ tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.

[12:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”

[12:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.

[12:4]  ⁹ tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.

[12:4]  sn The words here may be an outright rejection of the Lord’s words in Deut 32:20, which is part of a song that was to be taught to Israel in the light of their predicted rejection of the Lord.

[20:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “speak in his name.” This idiom occurs in passages where someone functions as the messenger under the authority of another. See Exod 5:23; Deut 18:19, 29:20; Jer 14:14. The antecedent in the first line is quite commonly misidentified as being “him,” i.e., the Lord. Comparison, however, with the rest of the context, especially the consequential clause “then it becomes” (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah), and Jer 23:36 shows that it is “the word of the Lord.”

[20:9]  ¹¹ tn The English sentence has again been restructured for the sake of English style. The Hebrew construction involves two vav consecutive perfects in a condition and consequence relation, “If I say to myself…then it [his word] becomes.” See GKC 337 §112.kk for the construction.

[20:9]  ¹² sn Heb “It is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.” In addition to standing as part for the whole, the “bones” for the person (e.g., Ps 35:10), the bones were associated with fear (e.g., Job 4:14) and with pain (e.g., Job 33:19, Ps 102:3 [102:4 HT]) and joy or sorrow (e.g., Ps 51:8 [51:10 HT]). As has been mentioned several times, the heart was connected with intellectual and volitional concerns.

[32:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

[32:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sword.”

[32:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

[32:24]  ¹⁷ tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.

[32:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”