Jeremiah 2:30-32
New English Translation
30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.
They did not respond to such correction.
You slaughtered your prophets
like a voracious lion.[a]
31 You people of this generation,
listen to the Lord’s message:
“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?
Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?[b]
Why then do you[c] say, ‘We are free to wander.[d]
We will not come to you anymore?’
32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?
Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?
But my people have forgotten me
for more days than can even be counted.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:30 tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.
- Jeremiah 2:31 tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation in this context.
- Jeremiah 2:31 tn Heb “my people.”
- Jeremiah 2:31 tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” The meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) is debated in the few passages where it occurs. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [veradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [veyaradti]) in Judg 11:37, where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.
Jeremiah 2:30-32
Lexham English Bible
30 “For in vain[a] I have struck your children.
They accepted no discipline.
Your sword devoured your prophets,
like a ravening[b] lion.
31 O generation, you see the word of Yahweh.
Have I been a desert[c] to Israel? Or a land of great darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We roam about freely,
we will not come again to you’?
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments?[d] Or a bride her sashes?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:30 Literally “the vanity”
- Jeremiah 2:30 Or “destroying”
- Jeremiah 2:31 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 2:32 Or “jewelry”
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