Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah asks Yahweh to destroy his enemies. Yahweh vows to abandon the people but promises to return if they follow in his ways.

II. Photo

Yahweh gives up on the temple: “I have abandoned my house, I have deserted my possession” (v. 7)

III. Select Verses

4: How long must the land languish, And the grass of all the countryside dry up? Must beasts and birds perish, Because of the evil of its inhabitants, Who say, “He will not look upon our future”?

6: For even your kinsmen and your father’s house, Even they are treacherous toward you, They cry after you as a mob. Do not believe them When they speak cordially to you.

7: I have abandoned My House, I have deserted My possession, I have given over My dearly beloved Into the hands of her enemies.

13: Be shamed, then, by your harvest — By the blazing wrath of the LORD!

14-15: Thus said the LORD: As for My wicked neighbors who encroach on the heritage that I gave to My people Israel — I am going to uproot them from their soil, and I will uproot the House of Judah out of the midst of them.  Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take them back into favor, and restore them each to his own inheritance and his own land.

IV. Outline

1-6. Jeremiah’s psalm-like lament (continued)

    1-2. Complaint: Yahweh has allowed the evil to prosper

    3a. Affirmation of loyalty

    3b. Imprecation of enemies

    4. Complaint: the land is dry

    5-6. Complaint: Even family members are disloyal

7-13. Oracle #1

    7. Yahweh has abandoned the temple

    8-9. The people have rebelled

    10-12. The land has been destroyed

    13. The people should be ashamed

14-17. Oracle #2

    14-15. Israel and its conquerors will be returned home

    16. Allegiance will lead to greatness

    17. Disobedience leads to destruction

    

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh condemns the people for committing idolatry, the sin of their ancestors. Jeremiah asks Yahweh to wipe out the people of Anathoth and he agrees.

II. Photo

Jeremiah was duped by the people of Anathoth: “I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes.” (v. 19)

III. Select Verses

3-5: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant,  which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron-smelter, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,  that I may perform the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.

7-8: For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.

12-13: Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they will never save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your towns, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.

21-23: Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the people of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “You shall not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”— therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and not even a remnant shall be left of them. For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.

IV. Outline

1-14. Oracle

    1-3a. Introduction and call to proclaim

    3b-5a. Curse for not keeping the ancient covenant

    5b. Jeremiah avers

    6-8. Warning: the ancestors were punished

    9-10. Israel and Judah have sinned like their ancestors

    11. Punishment is coming

    12-13. Jerusalem’s gods will not save

    14. Jeremiah must not pray on behalf of the people

15-17. Jeremiah’s message

    15. Sacrifice will not help

    16-17. Yahweh will burn the tree he planted

18-20. Jeremiah’s petition

    18-19. Yahweh revealed the enemy

    20a. Imprecation of enemies

    20b. Affirmation of confidence

    21-23. Oracle: Yahweh will wipe out the people of Anathoth

  

V. Comment

In verse 18 we encounter a new type of text, Jeremiah’s first psalm-like lament. Peter C. Craigie writes, “Beginning at 11:18, the Book of Jeremiah records a series of personal complaints. These complaints, which resemble the personal lament in form, have often been called Jeremiah’s confessions. Students of these laments have not reached complete agree ment about the extent of the laments, but six passages are normally included: 11:18–12:6; 15:10–21; 17:12–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–13; and 20:14–18. Some of the complaints have matching responses by Yahweh. The uniqueness of these laments has occasioned much debate about their nature and purpose. Agreement does not even exist about what they should be called since neutral terminology does not exist; calling them “confessions,” “complaints,” or “laments” presupposes a different understanding about their nature and purpose. Even though they will be designated confessions in the following discussion, this is only for convenience and is not intended to convey any particular understanding about these passages.” (172-173)

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1-25 (The Word Biblical Commentary vol. 26; Dallas: Wordbooks, 1991).

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh and Jeremiah call other gods a delusion. Yahweh warns of exile and Jeremiah speaks as if it has already come.

II. Photo

Jeremiah warns of destruction: “Hark, a noise! It is coming, a great commotion out of the north, that the towns of Judah may be made a desolation, a haunt of jackals. ” (v. 22)

III. Select Verses

3-5: For the laws of the nations are delusions: For it is the work of a craftsman’s hands. He cuts down a tree in the forest with an ax, He adorns it with silver and gold, He fastens it with nails and hammer, So that it does not totter.  They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, They cannot speak. They have to be carried, For they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they can do no harm; Nor is it in them to do any good.

11:  Thus shall you say to them: Let the gods, who did not make heaven and earth, perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

18: For thus said the LORD: I will fling away the inhabitants of the land this time: I will harass them so that they shall feel it.

IV. Outline

1-5. Oracle: other gods are non-gods

    1-2a. Introduction

    2b-5. Other gods are the work of man

6-16. Jeremiah concurs     

    6-10. Jeremiah concurs and praises Yahweh

    11. (Aramaic) Yahweh curses other gods

    12-13. Hymnic praise: Yahweh created the heavens and the weather

    14-15. Other gods are a delusion

    16. Yahweh is the only real god

17-18. Oracle: exile approaches

    17-18a. Introduction/call to prepare

    18b. Exile approaches

19-25. Jeremiah’s experience of exile

    19. Jeremiah’s pain

    20-22. Future quote reflecting an empty land

    23-25. Petition: Israel should not be wiped out

    

V. Comment

Verse 11 is the only verse in Jeremiah written in Aramaic (for other Aramaic verses in the Hebrew Bible see Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan 2:4-7:28; Gen 31:47). Peter C. Craigie writes in The Word Biblical Commentary vol. 26, Jeremiah 1-25: “The reason for the presence of this Aramaic verse in the midst of the Hebrew has puzzled commentators from the start. Both Rashi and Kimchi accepted the evidence of the Targum as an explanation of the sudden change from Hebrew to Aramaic. The Targum prefaces v 11 with these words: “This is the copy of the letter which the Prophet Jeremiah sent to the leaders of the exile in Babylon: ‘If the Chaldeans say to you, worship our idols, then answer them as follows.’” This suggests that v 11 was a shortened version of a letter sent by Jeremiah to Jehoiachin and the other exiles in Babylon between 598 and 587 BC (compare 29:1–32).” (160)

Also note that the petition in v. 25 is found nearly word for word in Ps. 79:6-7:

Jer 10:25: Pour out Your wrath on the nations who have not heeded You, Upon the clans that have not invoked Your name. For they have devoured Jacob, Have devoured and consumed him, And have laid desolate his homesteads.

Ps. 79:6-7: Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know You, upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your name,  for they have devoured Jacob and desolated his home.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1-25 (The Word Biblical Commentary vol. 26; Dallas: Wordbooks, 1991).

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh hopes to abandon Judah and promises to bring destruction, exile, and death to the people.

II. Photo

Yahweh expresses a wish of abandonment: “Oh, to be in the desert, at an encampment for wayfarers! Oh, to leave my people, to go away from them!” (v. 1)

III. Select Verses

1: Oh, to be in the desert, At an encampment for wayfarers! Oh, to leave my people, To go away from them — For they are all adulterers, A band of rogues.

10: I will turn Jerusalem into rubble, Into dens for jackals; And I will make the towns of Judah A desolation without inhabitants.

11-13: What man is so wise That he understands this? To whom has the LORD’s mouth spoken, So that he can explain it: Why is the land in ruins, Laid waste like a wilderness, With none passing through? The LORD replied: Because they forsook the Teaching I had set before them. They did not obey Me and they did not follow it,  but followed their own willful heart and followed the Baalim, as their fathers had taught them.

15: I will scatter them among nations which they and their fathers never knew; and I will dispatch the sword after them until I have consumed them.

22-23: Thus said the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; Let not the strong man glory in his strength; Let not the rich man glory in his riches. But only in this should one glory: In his earnest devotion to Me. For I the LORD act with kindness, Justice, and equity in the world; For in these I delight — declares the LORD.

IV. Outline

1. Wish to abandon the people

2-5. The people deceit one another

6a. Future punishment

6b-8. Rationale: duplicity cannot go unpunished

9-10. Future destruction for Judah

11-13. Rationale: the people followed their own heart and the Baal gods

14-15. Future exile

16-20. Future calls to lament

21. Future death to the masses

22-23. Praise only comes from serving Yahweh

24-25. (Enigmatic statement:) Israel is uncircumcised of heart

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Judah is doomed because its leaders and people do not change their ways.

II. Photo

Judah is lost: “No grapes left on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, the leaves all withered; Whatever I have given them is gone.” (v. 13)

III. Select Verses

7: Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons, And the turtledove, swift, and crane Keep the time of their coming; But My people pay no heed To the law of the LORD.

11: They offer healing offhand For the wounds of My poor people, Saying, “All is well, all is well,” When nothing is well.

13: I will make an end of them — declares the LORD: No grapes left on the vine, No figs on the fig tree, The leaves all withered; Whatever I have given them is gone.

14-16: Why are we sitting by? Let us gather into the fortified cities And meet our doom there. For the LORD our God has doomed us, He has made us drink a bitter draft, Because we sinned against the LORD.  We hoped for good fortune, but no happiness came; For a time of relief — instead there is terror!  The snorting of their horses was heard from Dan; At the loud neighing of their steeds The whole land quaked. They came and devoured the land and what was in it, The towns and those who dwelt in them.

23: Oh, that my head were water, My eyes a fount of tears! Then would I weep day and night For the slain of my poor people.

IV. Outline

1-2. The leaders of Judah will not be buried

3. Death is preferable to life

4a. Command to proclaim

4b-6. Persistent rebellion

7-9. The people lack wisdom

10a. Men’s wives and fields will be given to others

10b-12. Priests and prophets are guilty and will be punished

13. Total annihilation

14-16. Future quote: sin has caused the enemy (Babylon) to bring doom

17. The enemy will not be stopped

18-19a. Future quote: the people cannot believe

19b. It is their fault

19c-20. Future quote: the people will not be saved

21-23. Yahweh (or Jeremiah?) is brought to tears

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

Photo my own.

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh will destroy the temple, exile Judah, and kill the idolaters.

II. Photo

Yahweh silences Jeremiah: “As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not plead with me for I will not listen to you.” (v. 16)

III. Select Verses

2: Stand at the gate of the House of the LORD, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD!

12, 14-15: Just go to My place at Shiloh, where I had established My name formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel… therefore I will do to the House which bears My name, on which you rely, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just what I did to Shiloh.  And I will cast you out of My presence as I cast out your brothers, the whole brood of Ephraim.

16: As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not plead with Me; for I will not listen to you.

21-23: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat!  For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice. But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you.

24-26: Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward,  from the day your fathers left the land of Egypt until today. And though I kept sending all My servants, the prophets, to them daily and persistently,  they would not listen to Me or give ear. They stiffened their necks, they acted worse than their fathers.

IV. Outline

1-20. Oracle #1

    1. Introduction

    2. Jeremiah must proclaim this message

    3a. Introduction

    3b. Repentance prevents exile

    4. The temple will not save you

    5-7. List of actions that must be stopped

    8-11. Yahweh is not fooled

    12. Example of punishment: Shiloh was destroyed

    13-15. The temple will be destroyed like Shiloh and Judah will be exiled like Ephraim

    16. Jeremiah must not pray for the people

    17-18. Rationale: young and old serve other gods

    19. The people harm themselves

    20. Yahweh’s anger will not be quenched

21-34. Oracle #2

    21a. Introduction

    21b-22. Yahweh did not command sacrifices

    23. Yahweh commanded to follow him

    24-26. Since the beginning the people have not followed

    27. The people will not listen

    28. Confront them on their obstinance

    29. Call to lament

    30-31. Rationale: the people have worshiped incorrectly

    32-33. Valleys of worship will become valleys of carcasses

    34. Judah will be silent

    

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh calls for the destruction of Jerusalem because of its sins.

II. Photo

Jerusalem is guilty: “As a well flows with water, so she flows with wickedness.” (v. 7)

III. Select Verses

2: Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate, I will destroy.

7: As a well flows with water, So she flows with wickedness.

10: To whom shall I speak, Give warning that they may hear? Their ears are blocked And they cannot listen. See, the word of the LORD has become for them An object of scorn; they will have none of it.

16:  Thus said the LORD: Stand by the roads and consider, Inquire about ancient paths: Which is the road to happiness? Travel it, and find tranquillity for yourselves. But they said, “We will not.”

20: What need have I of frankincense That comes from Sheba, Or fragrant cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.

30: They are called “rejected silver,” For the LORD has rejected them.

IV. Outline

1-8. Oracle #1

    1. Benjamin should flee Jerusalem

    2. Destruction awaits

    3-5. The enemy’s battle cry

    6a. Future punishment

    6b-7. Condemnation

    8. Call to repent

    9. Israel will be picked like a vine

10-11a. Jeremiah speaks

    10. Israel is obstinate

    11a. Jeremiah’s anger

11b-15. Oracle #2

    11b. Young and old shall be punished

    12. Loss of land

    13-15. All priests and prophets are guilty and will fall

16-21. Oracle #3

    16-17. The people have ignored Yahweh

    18-19a. Destruction proclamation

    19b. Rationale

    20. Offerings are useless

    21. All will perish

22-26. Oracle #4

    22-23. A warrior nation (Babylon) approaches

    24-25. Future quote of the victims

    26. Call to mourn

27-30. Oracle #5

    27. Jeremiah is the refiner

    28-30. The people are unworkable metal

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh will punish Jerusalem for its sins.

II. Photo

Yahweh rouses Jeremiah: “I am putting my words into your mouth as fire, and this people shall be firewood, which it will consume.” (v. 14)

III. Select Verses

1: Roam the streets of Jerusalem, Search its squares, Look about and take note: You will not find a man, There is none who acts justly, Who seeks integrity — That I should pardon her.

7: Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by no-gods. When I fed them their fill, They committed adultery And went trooping to the harlot’s house.

12-13: They have been false to the LORD And said: “It is not so! No trouble shall come upon us, We shall not see sword or famine.  The prophets shall prove mere wind For the Word is not in them; Thus-and-thus shall be done to them!”

15: Lo, I am bringing against you, O House of Israel, A nation from afar — declares the LORD; It is an enduring nation, It is an ancient nation; A nation whose language you do not know — You will not understand what they say.

18: But even in those days — declares the LORD — I will not make an end of you.

21: Hear this, O foolish people, Devoid of intelligence, That have eyes but can’t see, That have ears but can’t hear!

22: Should you not tremble before Me, Who set the sand as a boundary to the sea, As a limit for all time, not to be transgressed? Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail; Though they roar, they cannot pass it.

IV. Outline

1-6. Jeremiah’s rationale for punishment

    1-2. Every Jerusalemite is guilty

    3. They are obstinate

    4-5. Poor and Rich alike are guilty

    6. The wild beast will attack them

7-19. Oracle #1

    7-9. Yahweh will not forgive

    10. Command (to Babylon) to punish

    11. Rationale

    12-13. Quoting the people who do not believe in the prophets

    14. Yahweh empowers Jeremiah

    15-17. A mighty nation (Babylon) approaches

    18. A remnant will remain

    19. Rationale for punishment

20-29. Oracle #2

    20. Command to proclaim

    21. Disparagement to the people

    22. Argument: the people should fear Yahweh who has set a boundary for the sea

    23-24. The people have not revered Yahweh

    25. Sin causes agricultural problems

    26-29. The wicked, wealthy people must be punished

    30-31. False prophets and priests are in charge

   

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah warns the people about Babylon’s future invasion and urges them to return to Yahweh.

II. Photo

Babylon approaches: “Lo, he ascends like clouds, his chariots are like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles.” (v. 13)

III. Select Verses

4: Open your hearts to the LORD, Remove the thickening about your hearts — O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem — Lest My wrath break forth like fire, And burn, with none to quench it, Because of your wicked acts.

6-7: Set up a signpost: To Zion. Take refuge, do not delay! For I bring evil from the north, And great disaster.  7 The lion has come up from his thicket: The destroyer of nations has set out, Has departed from his place, To make your land a desolation; Your cities shall be ruined, Without inhabitants.

9: The mind of the king And the mind of the nobles shall fail, The priests shall be appalled, And the prophets shall stand aghast.

14: Wash your heart clean of wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be rescued. How long will you harbor within you Your evil designs?

22: For My people are stupid, They give Me no heed; They are foolish children, They are not intelligent. They are clever at doing wrong, But unable to do right.

IV. Outline

1-2. Oracle for Israel

    1-2. Returning to Yahweh will bring blessing

3-. Message to Judah

    3a. Introduction

    3b-9. Oracle: Babylon approaches

        3b-4a. Metaphor: make your lives easy and return

        4b. If you do not return Yahweh’s wrath will burn

        5-8. Announcement of Babylon’s coming

        9. The leaders will be shocked

    10. Jeremiah accuses Yahweh of deception

    11-17. Judah is guilty and brings the enemy upon itself

    18-21. War pains Jeremiah

    22. Judah acts like a foolish child

    23-29. The land will be destroyed

    30. Wealth and fashion are meaningless

    31. Jeremiah hears the future pain

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

God finds Israel and Judah guilty but promises to bless them if they return to him.

II. Photo

Israel is likened to a prostitute: “You had the brazenness of a prostitute, you refused to be ashamed.” (v. 3)

III. Select Verses

8: I noted: Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce; yet her sister, Faithless Judah, was not afraid — she too went and whored.

11: And the LORD said to me: Rebel Israel has shown herself more in the right than Faithless Judah.

15: And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill.

18: In those days, the House of Judah shall go with the House of Israel; they shall come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your fathers as a possession.

19- 20: I had resolved to adopt you as My child, and I gave you a desirable land — the fairest heritage of all the nations; and I thought you would surely call Me “Father,” and never cease to be loyal to Me.  Instead, you have broken faith with Me, as a woman breaks faith with a paramour, O House of Israel — declares the LORD.

22b-25: “Here we are, we come to You, For You, O LORD, are our God! Surely, futility comes from the hills, Confusion from the mountains. Only through the LORD our God Is there deliverance for Israel. But the Shameful Thing has consumed The possessions of our fathers ever since our youth — Their flocks and herds, Their sons and daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, Let our disgrace cover us; For we have sinned against the LORD our God, We and our fathers from our youth to this day, And we have not heeded the LORD our God.”

IV. Outline

1-5. Oracle #1

    1-2. Metaphor: Israel has been with other lovers

    3a. Rain has not come

    3b-5. Israel has not been ashamed

6-20. Oracle #2

    6a. Introduction

    6b-10. Judah has played the whore like Israel

    11a. Continuation

    11b. Israel is more just than Judah

    12-13. Message for Israel: return and acknowledge your guilt

    14-19. Positive consequences

        14. People will be returned to Jerusalem

        15. Proper leaders

        16. The ark will not be missed

        17. Jerusalem will be for all nations

        18-19. Israel and Judah will reunite

    19-20. Instead of being a son, Israel has been an adulteress

21-25. Jeremiah’s message

    21-22a. Call to return

    22-25. Anticipated confession and prayer

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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