1tn Heb The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: This same formula occurs ten other times in Jeremiah. It has already occurred at 7:1 and 11:1.
2tn Heb Get up and go down. The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
3tn Heb And I will cause you to hear my word there.
4tn Heb And behold he was working.
5sn At his wheel (Heb at the two stones). The Hebrew expression is very descriptive of the construction of a potters wheel which consisted of two stones joined by a horizontal shaft. The potter rotated the wheel with his feet on the lower wheel and worked the clay with his hands on the upper. For a picture of a potter working at his wheel see IDB 3:846 s.v. Potters Wheel. See also the discussion regarding the making of pottery in the same volume, pp. 846-53, s.v. Pottery.
6tn The verbs here denote repeated action. They are the Hebrew perfect with the vav consecutive. The text then reads somewhat literally, Whenever the vessel he was molding
was ruined, he would remold
For this construction see Joüon §118.n and §167.b, and compare the usage in Amos 4:7-8.
7sn Something was wrong with the clayeither there was a lump in it, or it was too moist or not moist enough, or it had some other imperfection. In any case the vessel was ruined or spoiled or defective in the eyes of the potter. This same verb has been used of the linen shorts that were ruined and hence were good for nothing in Jer 13:7. The nature of the clay and how it responded to the potters hand determined the kind of vessel that he made of it. He did not throw the clay away. This is the basis for the application in vv. 7-10 to any nation and to the nation of Israel in particular vv. 10-17.
8tn The usage of the preposition B= (bet) to introduce the material from which something is made in Exod 38:8; 1 Kgs 15:22 should lay to rest the rather forced construction that some like J. Bright, Jeremiah, p. 121 put on the variant rm#j)K^ found in a few Hebrew mss. Bright renders that phrase as an elliptical as clay sometimes will. The phrase is missing from the Greek version.
9tn Heb he would turn and work. This is another example of the construction called hendiadys where one of the two verbs joined by and becomes the adverbial modifier of the other. The verb turn is very common in this construction (see BDB 998 s.v. bWv Qal 8 for references).
10tn Heb as it was right in his eyes to do [or work it]. For this idiom see Judg 14:3, 7; 1 Sam 18:20, 26; 2 Sam 17:4.
11tn Heb Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying.
12tn This phrase (literally Oracle of the Lord) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24.
13tn The words deals with the clay are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
14tn The word Jeremiah is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion So now in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion Therefore in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lords promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lords words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.
15tn Heb One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to
So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.
16tn Heb turns from its wickedness.
17tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here revoke should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it change my mind because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer relent. However, the English word relent suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with conditional prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). Revoke or forgo may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.
sn There is a wordplay here involving the word evil (hu*r`, r*u*h) which refers to both the crime and the punishment. This same play is carried further in Jonah 3:10-4:1 where Jonah becomes very displeased (Heb it was very evil to Jonah with great evil) when God forgoes bringing disaster (evil) on Nineveh because they have repented of their wickedness (evil).
18sn Heb plant. The terms uproot, tear down, destroy, build, and plant are the two sides of the ministry Jeremiah was called to (cf. Jer 1:10).
19map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20sn Literally I am forming disaster and making plans against you. The word translated forming is the same as that for potter, so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.
21tn Heb Turn, each one from his wicked way. See v. 8.
22tn Or Make good your ways and your actions. See the same expression in 7:3, 5.
23sn See the same expression in a similar context in Jer 2:25.
24tn Heb We will follow our own plans and do each one according to the stubbornness of his own wicked heart.
sn This has been the consistent pattern of their behavior. See 7:24; 9:13; 13:10; 16:12.
25tn The precise translation of this verse is somewhat uncertain. Two phrases in this verse are the primary cause of discussion and the source of numerous emendations, none of which has gained consensus. The phrase which is rendered here rocky slopes is in Hebrew yd~c* rWx which would normally mean something like rocky crag of the field (see BDB 961 s.v. yd~c* 1.g). Numerous emendations have been proposed, most of which are listed in the footnotes of J. Thompson, Jeremiah, p. 436. The present translation has chosen to follow the proposal of several scholars that the word here is related to the Akkadian word shadu meaning mountain. The other difficulty is the word translated cease which in the Masoretic text is literally be uprooted (Wvt=N`y]). The word is usually emended to read Wtv=N`y] are dried up as a case of transposed letters (cf., e.g., BDB 684 s.v. vt^n` Niph). I suspect rather that this is a case of an error in hearing and the word vf^n` which is often parallel to bz~u*, translated here vanish, should be read in the sense that it has in 1 Sam 10:2. Whether one reads are plucked up and understands it figuratively of ceasing, are dried or cease, the sense is the same. For the sense of distant for the word <yr]z` see 2 Kgs 19:24.
sn Israels actions are contrary to nature. See the same kind of argumentation in Jer 2:11; 8:7.
26sn Heb the ancient path. This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another old way but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).
27sn Heb ways that are not built up. This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms way, by-paths, roads are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.
28tn There may be a deliberate double meaning involved here. The word translated here an object of horror refers both to destruction (cf. 2:15; 4:17) and the horror or dismay that accompanies it (cf. 5:30; 8:21). The fact that there is no conjunction or preposition in front of the noun hissing that follows this suggests that the reaction is in view here, not the cause.
29tn Heb an object of lasting hissing. All who pass that way will be appalled and shake their head.
sn The actions of shaking of the head and hissing were obviously gestures of scorn and derision. See Lam 2:15-16.
30tc Heb I will show them [my] back and not [my] face. This reading follows the suggestion of some of the versions and some of the Masoretes. The Masoretic text reads I will look on their back and not on their faces.
sn To turn the back is universally recognized as a symbol of rejection. The turning of the face toward one is the subject of the beautiful Aaronic blessing in Num 6:24-26.
31tn Heb They. The referent is unidentified; some people has been used in the translation.
32tn Heb Let us make plans against Jeremiah. See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.
33tn Heb Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.
sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.
34tn Heb Let us smite him with our tongues. It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.
35tn The words Then I said are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.
36tn Heb the voice of my adversaries.
sn Jeremiahs prayers against the unjust treatment of his enemies here and elsewhere (see 11:18-20; 12:1-4; 15:15-18; 17:14-18) have many of the elements of the prayers of the innocent in the book of Psalms: an invocation of the Lord as just judge, a lament about unjust attacks, an appeal to innocence, and a cry for vindication which often calls for the Lord to pay back in kind those who unjustly attack the petitioner. See for examples Pss 5, 7, 17, 54 among many others.
37tn 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. hr`K* Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.
38tn Heb to speak good concerning them going back to the concept of good being paid back with evil.
39tn Heb to turn back your anger from them.
sn See Jer 14:7-9, 19-21 and 15:1-4 for the idea.
40tn Heb be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword. For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
41tn Heb be slain by death. The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
42tn Heb when you bring marauders in against them. For the use of the noun translated here bands of raiders to plunder them see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. dWdG+ 1.
43sn Heb Do not blot out their sins from before you. For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at Gods actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).
44tn Heb in the time of your anger.