Yeremia 8:8
Konteks8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the Lord”?
The truth is, 1 those who teach it 2 have used their writings
to make it say what it does not really mean. 3
Yeremia 34:8
Konteks34:8 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant 4 with all the people in Jerusalem 5 to grant their slaves their freedom.
Yeremia 43:13
Konteks43:13 He will demolish the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun 6 in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”
[8:8] 1 tn Heb “Surely, behold!”
[8:8] 3 tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.
[34:8] 4 tn Usually translated “covenant.” See the study note on 11:2 for the rationale for the translation here.
[34:8] sn There are no details regarding the nature of this covenant, but it was probably a parity covenant in which the people agreed to free their slaves in exchange for some concessions from the king (see the study note on 11:2 for more details on the nature of ancient Near Eastern covenants). More details about this covenant are given in vv. 15, 18-19 where it is said to have been made before the
[34:8] 5 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[43:13] 6 sn It is generally agreed that the temple of the sun was located in Heliopolis, which is elsewhere referred to as On (cf. Gen 41:45). It was the center for the worship of Amon-Re, the Egyptian sun god, and was famous for its obelisks (conical shaped pillars) dedicated to that god. It was located about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of modern-day Cairo.