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The Lord cried out,[a]

“Who in the world[b] will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
Who will grieve over you?
Who will stop long enough[c]
to inquire about how you are doing?[d]
I, the Lord, say:[e] ‘You people have deserted me;
you keep turning your back on me.’[f]
So I have unleashed my power against you[g] and have begun to destroy you.[h]
I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!”[i]

The Lord continued,[j]

“In every town in the land I will purge them
like straw blown away by the wind.[k]
I will destroy my people.
I will kill off their children.
I will do so because they did not change their behavior.[l]
Their widows will become in my sight more numerous[m]
than the grains of sand on the seashores.
At noontime I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men.[n]
I will cause anguish[o] and terror
to fall suddenly upon them.[p]
The mother who had seven children[q] will grow faint.
All the breath will go out of her.[r]
Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.
It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day.[s]
She will suffer shame and humiliation.[t]
I will cause any of them who are still left alive
to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,”[u]
says the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 15:5 tn The words “The Lord cried out” are not in the text. However, they are necessary to show the shift in address between telling Jeremiah about the people in vv. 1-4, speaking to Jerusalem in vv. 5-6, and addressing Jeremiah again in vv. 7-9. The words “oracle of the Lord” are, moreover, found at the beginning of v. 6.
  2. Jeremiah 15:5 tn The words, “in the world” are not in the text but are the translator’s way of trying to indicate that this rhetorical question expects a negative answer.
  3. Jeremiah 15:5 tn Heb “turn aside.”
  4. Jeremiah 15:5 tn Or “about your well-being”; Heb “about your welfare” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom).
  5. Jeremiah 15:6 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.” In the original text this phrase is found between “you have deserted me” and “you keep turning your back on me.” It is put at the beginning and converted to first person for sake of English style and clarity.
  6. Jeremiah 15:6 tn Heb “you are going backward.” This is the only occurrence of this adverb with this verb. It is often used with another verb meaning “turn backward” (= abandon; Heb סוּג [sug] in the Niphal). For examples see Jer 38:22 and 46:5. The only other occurrence in Jeremiah has been in the unusual idiom in 7:24 where it was translated, “they got worse and worse instead of better.” That is how J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 109) translates it here. However it is translated, it has connotations of apostasy.
  7. Jeremiah 15:6 tn Heb “stretched out my hand against you.” For this idiom see notes on 6:12.
  8. Jeremiah 15:6 tn There is a difference of opinion on how the verbs here and in the following verses are to be rendered, whether past or future. KJV, NASB, and NIV, for example, render them as future. ASV, RSV, and TEV render them as past. NJPS has past here and future in vv. 7-9. This is perhaps the best solution. The imperfect + vav consecutive here responds to the perfect in the first line. The imperfects + vav consecutives followed by perfects in vv. 7-9 and concluded by an imperfect in v. 9 pick up the perfects + vav consecutives in vv. 3-4. Verses 7-9 are further development of the theme in vv. 1-4. Verses 5-6 have been an apostrophe or a turning aside to address Jerusalem directly. For a somewhat similar alternation of the tenses see Isa 5:14-17 and consult GKC 329-30 §111.w. One could of course argue that the imperfects + vav consecutive in vv. 7-9 continue the imperfect + vav consecutive here. In this case, vv. 7-9 are not a continuation of the oracle of doom but another lament by God (cf. 14:1-6, 17-18).
  9. Jeremiah 15:6 sn It is difficult to be sure what intertextual connections are intended by the author in his use of vocabulary. The Hebrew word translated “grown tired” is not very common. It has been used twice before: in 9:5-6b, where it refers to the people being unable to repent, and in 6:11, where it refers to Jeremiah being tired or unable to hold back his anger because of that inability. Now God, too, has worn out his patience with them (cf. Isa 7:13).
  10. Jeremiah 15:7 tn The words “The Lord continued” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to show the shift back to talking about the people instead of addressing them. The obvious speaker is the Lord; the likely listener is Jeremiah, as in vv. 1-4.
  11. Jeremiah 15:7 tn Heb “I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.” The word “gates” is here being used figuratively for the cities, the part for the whole. See 14:2 and the notes there.sn Like straw blown away by the wind. A figurative use of the process of winnowing is referred to here. Winnowing was the process whereby a mixture of grain and straw was thrown up into the wind to separate the grain from the straw and the husks. The best description of the major steps in threshing and winnowing grain in the Bible is seen in another figurative passage in Isa 41:15-16.
  12. Jeremiah 15:7 tn Or “did not repent of their wicked ways”; Heb “They did not turn back from their ways.” There is no casual particle here (either כִּי [ki], which is more formally casual, or ו [vav], which sometimes introduces casual circumstantial clauses). The causal idea is furnished by the connection of ideas. If the verbs throughout this section are treated as pasts and this section is seen as a lament, then the clause can be sequential: “but they still did not turn…”
  13. Jeremiah 15:8 tn Heb “to me.” BDB 513 s.v. ל 5.a(d) compares the usage of the preposition “to” here to that in Jonah 3:3, “Nineveh was a very great city to God [in God’s estimation].” The NEB/REB interpret as though it were the agent after a passive verb, “I have made widows more numerous.” Most English versions ignore it. The present translation follows BDB though the emphasis on God’s agency has been strong in the passage.
  14. Jeremiah 15:8 tn The translation of this line is a little uncertain because of the double prepositional phrase which is not represented in this translation or most of the others. The Hebrew text reads, “I will bring in to them, against mother of young men, a destroyer at noon time.” Many commentaries delete the phrase with the Greek text. If the preposition read “against” like the following one this would be a case of apposition of nearer definition. There is some evidence of that in the Targum and the Syriac according to BHS. Both nouns “mothers” and “young men” are translated as plural here though they are singular; they are treated by most as collectives. In the light of 6:4, noontime was a good time to attack. NJPS has, “I will bring against them—young men and mothers together—….” In this case “mother” and “young men” would be a case of asyndetic coordination.
  15. Jeremiah 15:8 tn This word is used only here and in Hos 11:9. It is related to the root meaning “to rouse” (so BDB 735 s.v. I עִיר). Here it refers to the excitement or agitation caused by terror. In Hos 11:9 it refers to the excitement or arousal of anger.
  16. Jeremiah 15:8 tn The “them” in the Hebrew text is feminine, referring to the mothers.
  17. Jeremiah 15:9 tn Heb “who gave birth to seven.”sn To have seven children was considered a blessing and a source of pride and honor (Ruth 4:15; 1 Sam 2:5).
  18. Jeremiah 15:9 tn The meaning of this line is debated. Some understand it to mean, “she has breathed out her life” (cf., e.g., BDB 656 s.v. נָפַח and 656 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 1.c). However, as several commentaries have noted (e.g., W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:341; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 109), it makes little sense to talk about her suffering shame and embarrassment if she has breathed her last. Both the Greek and Latin versions understand “soul” not as the object but as the subject, with the idea being that of fainting under despair. This viewpoint seems likely in light of the parallelism. Bright suggests that the phrase means either, “she gasped out her breath” or, “her throat gasped.” The former is more probable. One might also translate, “she fainted dead away,” but that idiom might not be familiar to all readers.
  19. Jeremiah 15:9 tn Heb “Her sun went down while it was still day.”sn The sun was the source of light and hence had associations with life, prosperity, health, and blessing. The premature setting of the sun that brought these seems apropos as a metaphor for the loss of her children, which were not only a source of joy, help, and honor. Two references where “sun” is used figuratively, Ps 84:11 (84:12 HT) and Mal 4:2, may be helpful here.
  20. Jeremiah 15:9 sn She has lost her position of honor and the source of her pride. For the concepts here see 1 Sam 2:5.
  21. Jeremiah 15:9 tn Heb “I will deliver those of them that survive to the sword before their enemies.” The referent of “them” is ambiguous. Does it refer to the children of the widow (nearer context) or the people themselves (more remote context, v. 7)? Perhaps it was meant to include both. Verse seven spoke of the destruction of the people and the killing off of the children.

Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    or who will bemoan you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
You have rejected me, says the Lord;
    you are going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    I am weary of relenting.(A)
I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    they did not turn from their ways.(B)
Their widows became more numerous
    than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of youths
    a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
    fall upon her suddenly.
She who bore seven has languished;
    she has swooned away;
her sun went down while it was yet day;
    she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
    before their enemies,
            says the Lord.(C)

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