Jeremiah 2:8-10

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 2:8 tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”
2. Jeremiah 2:8 sn See the study note on 2:6.
3. Jeremiah 2:8 tn Heb “those who handle my law.”sn The reference is likely to the priests and Levites who were responsible for teaching the law (so Jer 18:18; cf. Deut 33:10). According to Jer 8:8 it could possibly refer to the scribes who copied the law.
4. Jeremiah 2:8 tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See, for example, its use in contexts like Hos 4:1 and 6:6.
5. Jeremiah 2:8 tn Heb “by Baal.”
6. Jeremiah 2:8 tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, baʿal) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (yaʿal).
7. Jeremiah 2:9 tn Or “bring charges against you.”sn The language used here is that of the law court. In international political contexts it was the language of a great king charging his subject with breach of covenant. See for examples in earlier prophets, Isa 1:2-20 and Mic 6:1-8.
8. Jeremiah 2:9 tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.sn The passage reflects the Hebrew concept of corporate solidarity: The actions of parents had consequences for their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Compare the usage in the ten commandments (Deut 5:10) and note the execution of the children of Dathan and Abiram (Deut 11:6) and of Achan (Josh 7:24-25).
9. Jeremiah 2:10 tn Heb “For go west.”
10. Jeremiah 2:10 tn Heb “pass over to the coasts of Kittim.” The words “west across the sea” in this line and “east of” in the next are implicit in the text and are supplied in the translation to give geographical orientation.sn The Hebrew term translated Cyprus (“Kittim”) originally referred to the island of Cyprus but later was used for the lands in the west, including Macedonia (1 Macc 1:1; 8:5) and Rome (Dan 11:30). It is used here as part of a figure called merism to denote the lands in the west as opposed to Kedar, which was in the east. The figure includes polar opposites to indicate totality, i.e., everywhere from west to east.
11. Jeremiah 2:10 sn Kedar is the home of the bedouin tribes in the Syro-Arabian desert. See Gen 25:18 and Jer 49:38. See also the previous note for the significance of the reference here.