Yeremia 7:18

7:18 Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. ¹  They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just ²  to trouble me.

Yeremia 18:20

18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?

Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ³ 

Just remember how I stood before you

pleading on their behalf ⁴ 

to keep you from venting your anger on them. ⁵ 

Yeremia 19:15

19:15 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶  says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it ⁷  all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused ⁸  to pay any attention to what I have said!’”

Yeremia 25:29

25:29 For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ⁹  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ¹⁰  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹¹  affirm it!’ ¹² 

Yeremia 33:24

33:24 “You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven’t you? They are saying, ¹³  ‘The Lord has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah ¹⁴  that he chose.’ So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation. ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 40:15

40:15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you ¹⁶  and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.”

Yeremia 41:7

41:7 But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies ¹⁷  in a cistern.

[7:18]  ¹ tn The form for “queen” is unusual. It is pointed (מְלֶכֶת [mÿlekhet] instead of מַלְכַּת [malkat]) as though the Masoretes wanted to read the word for “work” (מְלֶאכֶת [mÿle’khet]), i.e., the “hosts of,” a word that several Hebrew mss read and an understanding the LXX reflects. The other ancient and modern versions generally, however, accept it as a biform for the word “queen.”

[7:18]  sn The Queen of Heaven is probably a reference to the goddess known as Ishtar in Mesopotamia, Anat in Canaan, Ashtoreth in Israel. She was the goddess of love and fertility. For further discussion, see G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 266-68.

[7:18]  ² tn Heb “to provoke me.” There is debate among grammarians and lexicographers about the nuance of the Hebrew particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an). Some say it always denotes purpose, while others say it may denote either purpose or result, depending on the context. For example, BDB 775 s.v. לְמַעַן note 1 says that it always denotes purpose, never result, but that sometimes what is really a result is represented ironically as though it were a purpose. That explanation fits nicely here in the light of the context of the next verse. The translation is intended to reflect some of that ironic sarcasm.

[18:20]  ³ tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.

[18:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”

[18:20]  sn See Jer 14:7-9, 19-21 and 15:1-4 for the idea.

[19:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[19:15]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this title.

[19:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “all its towns.”

[19:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”

[25:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “which is called by my name.” See translator’s note on 7:10 for support.

[25:29]  ¹⁰ tn This is an example of a question without the formal introductory particle following a conjunctive vav introducing an opposition. (See Joüon 2:609 §161.a.) It is also an example of the use of the infinitive before the finite verb in a rhetorical question involving doubt or denial. (See Joüon 2:422-23 §123.f, and compare usage in Gen 37:8.)

[25:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:29]  sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this extended title.

[25:29]  ¹² tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.”

[33:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “Have you not seen what this people have said, saying.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. The sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “The two families which the Lord chose, he has rejected them.” This is an example of an object prepositioned before the verb and resumed by a redundant pronoun to throw emphasis of focus on it (called casus pendens in the grammars; cf. GKC 458 §143.d). Some commentators identify the “two families” as those of David and Levi mentioned in the previous verses, and some identify them as the families of the Israelites and of David mentioned in the next verse. However, the next clause in this verse and the emphasis on the restoration and regathering of Israel and Judah in this section (cf. 33:7, 14) show that the reference is to Israel and Judah (see also 30:3, 4; 31:27, 31 and 3:18).

[33:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and my people [i.e., Israel and Judah] they disdain [or look down on] from being again a nation before them.” The phrase “before them” refers to their estimation, their mental view (cf. BDB s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a[g]). Hence it means they look with disdain on the people being a nation again (cf. BDB s.v. עוֹד 1.a[b] for the usage of עוֹד [’od] here).

[40:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Why should he kill you?” However, this is one of those cases listed in BDB 554 s.v. מָה 4.d(b) where it introduces a question introducing rhetorically the reason why something should not be done. In cases like this BDB notes that it approximates the meaning “lest” and is translated in Greek by μήποτε (mhpote) or μή (mh) as the Greek version does here. Hence it is separated from the preceding and translated “otherwise” for the sake of English style.

[41:7]  ¹⁷ tn The words “and threw their bodies” result from the significant use of the preposition אֶל (’el, so GKC 384 §119.gg and BDB 39 s.v. אֶל 1). Hence the suggestion in BHS (fn a) that the Syriac and two Greek mss are reading a different text is not really a textual issue but a translational one; the versions are supplying the words for stylistic purposes as has been done here.