Yeremia 8:14

Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction

8:14 The people say, ¹ 

“Why are we just sitting here?

Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ² 

Let us at least die there fighting, ³ 

since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.

He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁴ 

because we have sinned against him. ⁵ 

Yeremia 9:15

9:15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ⁶  say. ⁷  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ⁸ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn The words “The people say” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift of speakers between vv. 4-13 and vv. 14-16. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ² tn Heb “Gather together and let us enter into the fortified cities.”

[8:14]  ³ tn Heb “Let us die there.” The words “at least” and “fighting” are intended to bring out the contrast of passive surrender to death in the open country and active resistance to the death implicit in the context.

[8:14]  ⁴ tn The words “of judgment” are not in the text but are intended to show that “poison water” is not literal but figurative of judgment at the hands of God through the agency of the enemy mentioned in v. 16.

[8:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “against the Lord.” The switch is for the sake of smoothness in English.

[9:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[9:15]  sn See the study notes on 2:9 and 7:3.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…” The person is shifted from third to first to better conform with English style.

[9:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.