¹tn Or “If you want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)], Israel,…then you must turn back to me.”
²tn Heb “disgusting things.”
³tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not have to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”
⁴tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness…”
⁵tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle <a! while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.
⁶tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”
⁷tn The Hebrew particle is obviously asseverative here since a causal connection appears to make little sense.
⁸tn Heb “Plow up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns.” The translation is an attempt to bring out the force of a metaphor which may not make sense to some readers. The idea seems to be that they are to plow over the thorns and make the ground ready for the seeds which will produce a new crop where none had been produced before.
⁹tn Heb “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your heart.” The translation is again an attempt to bring out the meaning of a metaphor which may not make sense to some readers. The mention of the “foreskin of the heart” shows that the passage is obviously metaphorical and involves heart attitude, not an external rite.
¹⁰tn Heb “lest.”
¹¹tn The words “The Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from v. 6 and v. 9 that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
¹²tn It is unclear who the addressees of the masculine plural imperatives are here. They may be the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah who are sounding the alarm to others. However, the first person reference to the Lord in v. 6 and Jeremiah’s response in v. 10 suggest that this is a word from the Lord that he is commanded to pass on to the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah. If the imperatives are not merely rhetorical plurals they may reflect the practice referred to in Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7. A similar phenomenon also occurs in Jer 5:1 and also in Isa 40:1-2. This may also be the explanation for the plural imperatives in Jer 31:6. For further discussion see the translator’s note on Jer 5:1.
¹³map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
¹⁴tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
¹⁵tn Heb “Raise up a signal toward Zion.”
¹⁶tn Heb “out of the north, even great destruction.”
¹⁷tn Heb “A lion has left its lair.” The metaphor is turned into a simile for clarification. The word translated “lair” has also been understood to refer to a hiding place. However, it appears to be cognate in meaning to the word translated “lair” in Ps 10:9; Jer 25:38, a word which also refers to the abode of the Lord in Ps 76:3.
¹⁸tn Heb “his place.”
¹⁹tn Or “wail because the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.” The translation does not need to assume a shift in speaker as the alternate reading does.
²⁰tn Heb “In that day.”
²¹tn The words “In response to all this” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify the connection.
²²tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.
²³tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”
²⁴tn Heb “Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace.’” An alternative translation for the first part of this verse might be, “You have surely let this people be deceived by some who are saying, ‘You will be safe.’” The words “you will be safe” are, of course, those of the false prophets (cf., Jer 6:14; 8:11; 14:13; 23:16-17). It is difficult to tell whether the charge here is meant literally as the emotional outburst of the prophet (compare for example, Jer 15:18) or whether it is to be understood as a figure of speech in which a verb of direct causation is to be understood as permissive or tolerative, i.e., God did not command the prophets to say this but allowed them to do so. While it is not beyond God to use false prophets to accomplish his will (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 22:19-23), he elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah directly denies having sent the false prophets to say such things as this (cf., e.g., Jer 14:14-15; 23:21, 32). For examples of the use of this figure of speech, see Bullinger, Figures of Speech, pp. 571, 823 and compare Ezek 20:25. The translation given does not attempt to resolve the issue. The alternate translation assumes the figure of speech.
²⁵tn Heb “touches the throat/soul.” For this use of the word usually translated “soul” or “life” cf. HAL 672 s.v. vp#n\ 1, 2 and compare the use in Ps 105:18.
²⁶tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”
²⁷tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”
sn The allusion is, of course, to the destructive forces of the enemy armies of Babylon compared above in 4:7 to a destructive lion and here to the destructive desert winds of the Near Eastern sirocco.
²⁸tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common, “daughter of Zion.”
²⁹tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.
³⁰tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”
³¹tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”
³²tn Heb “he is coming up like clouds.” The words “The enemy” are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and the word “gathering” is supplied to try to convey the significance of the simile, i.e., that of quantity and of an approaching storm.
³³tn Heb “his chariots [are] like a whirlwind.” The words “roar” and “sound” are supplied in the translation to clarify the significance of the simile.
³⁴tn The words “I cry out” are not in the text, but the words that follow are obviously not the Lord’s. They are either those of the people or of Jeremiah. Taking them as Jeremiah’s parallels the interjection of Jeremiah’s response in 4:10 which is formally introduced.
³⁵tn Heb “Woe to us!” The words “woe to” are common in funeral laments and at the beginning of oracles of judgment. In many contexts they carry the connotation of hopelessness or apprehensiveness of inevitable doom.
³⁶tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”
³⁷tn Heb “For a voice declaring from Dan and making heard disaster from the hills of Ephraim.”
³⁸tn The words “They are saying” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
³⁹tn The word “surrounding” is not in the text but is implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarification.
⁴⁰tc Or “Here they come!” Heb “Look!” or “Behold!” Or “Announce to the surrounding nations, indeed [or yes] proclaim to Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers…’” The text is very elliptical here. Some of the modern translations appear to be emending the text from hN}h!, “behold,” to either hN`h@, “these things” (so NEB), or hZ\h^, “this” (so NIV). The solution proposed here is as old as the LXX which reads, “Behold, they have come.”
⁴¹tn The words, “this message,” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to make the introduction of the quote easier.
⁴²tn Heb “Besiegers.” For the use of this verb to refer to besieging a city compare Isa 1:8.
⁴³tn Heb “They have raised their voices against.” The verb here, a vav consecutive with an imperfect, continues the nuance of the preceding participle, “ are coming.”
⁴⁴tn Heb “They….” The referent (cities) is specified in the translation for clarity.
⁴⁵tn Literally “will surround her.” The antecedent is Jerusalem in the preceding verse. The referent is again made explicit in the translation to avoid any possible lack of clarity. The verb form here is a form of the verb that emphasizes the fact as being as good as done (i.e., it is a prophetic perfect).
⁴⁶sn There is some irony involved in the choice of the simile since the men guarding a field were there to keep thieves from getting in and stealing the crops. Here the besiegers are guarding the city to keep people from getting out.
⁴⁷tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”
⁴⁸tn Heb “How bitter!”
⁴⁹tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.
⁵⁰tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.
⁵¹tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”
⁵²tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”
⁵³tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
⁵⁴tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “ the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).
⁵⁵tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.
⁵⁶tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.
⁵⁷tn Heb “my.”
⁵⁸tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.
⁵⁹tn Heb “ram’s horns,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpets” and is more readily understandable.
⁶⁰tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.
⁶¹tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.
⁶²tn Heb “They are senseless children.”
⁶³tn Heb “and behold.” The words “in a vision” are supplied in the translation to show clearly the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future state of the land of Palestine which is described hyperbolically as the return of precreation chaos to the whole earth.
⁶⁴tn Heb “there was no man/human being.”
⁶⁵tn Heb “because of the Lord, because of his blazing anger.”
⁶⁶tn Heb “For this is what the Lord said,”
⁶⁷sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.
⁶⁸tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is probably another example of a figure of speech where two concepts are joined together by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.
⁶⁹tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”
⁷⁰tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to clarify that this is still part of the vision of destruction that Jeremiah is portraying.
⁷¹tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.
⁷²tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by the Egyptians and others as makeup around the eyes to make them look larger.
⁷³tn Heb “they seek your life.”
⁷⁴tn The particle yK! is more likely asseverative here than causal.
⁷⁵tn Heb “Daughter Zion.”
⁷⁶tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.
⁷⁷tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”