Jeremiah 11:12-14

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 11:12 tn Heb “Then the towns of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will…”
2. Jeremiah 11:12 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, involving the use of an infinitive of the verb before the verb itself (Heb “saving they will not save”). For this construction to give emphasis to an antithesis, see GKC 343 §113.p.
3. Jeremiah 11:13 tn This is again an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) contextually. The nuance is a little hard to establish due to the nature of the rhetoric of the passage, which utilizes the figure of apostrophe, where the Lord turns from talking about Judah to addressing her directly, probably in condemnatory tones. Something like “the very idea that you should…” might best represent the mood. The כִּי is probably asseverative or intensive (cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e).
4. Jeremiah 11:13 sn Cf. Jer 2:28.
5. Jeremiah 11:13 tn Heb “For [or Indeed] the number of your [sing.] cities are your [sing.] gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [or perhaps (your) streets, Jerusalem] you [plur.] have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to sacrifice to Baal.” This passage involves a figure of speech where the speaker turns from describing something about someone to addressing him/her directly (a figure called apostrophe). This figure is not common in contemporary English literature or conversation and translating literally would lead to confusion on the part of some readers. Hence, the translation retains the third person in keeping with the rest of the context. The shift from singular “your cities” to plural “you have set up” is interpreted contextually to refer to a shift from addressing Judah to addressing the citizens of Jerusalem whose streets are being talked about. The appositional phrase, “altars to sacrifice to Baal,” has been collapsed with the preceding phrase about “altars” to better identify what the shameful thing is and to eliminate a complex construction. The length of this sentence runs contrary to the usual practice of breaking up long complex sentences in Hebrew into shorter equivalent ones in English. However, breaking up this sentence and possibly losing the connecting link with what precedes and introduces it might lead to misunderstanding.
6. Jeremiah 11:14 tn The name, Jeremiah, has been added for specificity.
7. Jeremiah 11:14 sn Cf. Jer 7:16, where this same command is addressed to Jeremiah.
8. Jeremiah 11:14 tc The rendering “when disaster strikes them” is based on reading “at the time of” (בְּעֵת, b^eʿet), with a number of Hebrew mss and the versions, instead of “on account of” (בְּעַד, b^eʿad). W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:347) is probably right in assuming that the MT has been influenced by “for them” (בַעֲדָם, vaʿadam) earlier in the verse.