Jeremiah 2:6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 2:6 tn Heb “a land of the rift valley and gorges.” Geographically, the עֲרָבָה (ʿaravah) is the rift valley that extends from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. Biblical references are usually to sections of the rift valley, such as the Jordan Valley, the region of the Dead Sea, or the portion south of the Dead Sea. The term שׁוּחָה (shukhah) can refer to a trapper’s pit, a gorge, or a precipice (HALOT 1439 s.v.). The point here seems to be the terrain; cf. REB “a barren and broken country.”
2. Jeremiah 2:6 tn This word is erroneously rendered “shadow of death” in most older English versions; that translation is based on a faulty etymology. Contextual studies and comparative Semitic linguistics have demonstrated that the word is merely another word for darkness. It is confined to poetic texts and often carries connotations of danger and distress. It is associated in poetic texts with the darkness of a prison (Ps 107:10, 14), a mine (Job 28:3), and a ravine (Ps 23:4). Here it is associated with the darkness of the wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert.
3. Jeremiah 2:6 sn The context suggests that the question is related to a lament where the people turn to God in their troubles, asking him for help and reminding him of his past benefactions. See for example Isa 63:11-19 and Ps 44. It is an implicit prayer for his intervention; compare 2 Kgs 2:14.