Jeremiah 16:14-18
Christian Standard Bible
14 “However, look, the days are coming”(A)—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’(B) 15 but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north(C) and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.(D)
Punishment of Exile
16 “I am about to send for many fishermen”(E)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, 17 for my gaze takes in all their ways.(F) They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight. 18 I will first repay them double for their iniquity(G) and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols.”
Read full chapter
Jeremiah 16:14-18
New English Translation
14 Yet[a] I, the Lord, say:[b] “A new time will certainly come.[c] People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ 15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.”[d]
16 But for now I, the Lord, say:[e] “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.[f] 17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it.[g] 18 Before I restore them[h] I will punish them in full[i] for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own[j] with their detestable idols.”[k]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Jeremiah 16:14 tn The particle translated here as “Yet” (לָכֵן, lakhen) is regularly translated “So” or “Therefore” and introduces a consequence. However, in a few cases it introduces a contrasting set of conditions. Cf. Judg 11:8; Jer 48:12; 49:2; 51:52; Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT).
- Jeremiah 16:14 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift that might create confusion.
- Jeremiah 16:14 tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming.”
- Jeremiah 16:15 tn These two verses, which constitute one long sentence with compound, complex subordinations, has been broken up for sake of English style. It reads, “Therefore, behold the days are coming,” says the Lord [Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’], “and it will not be said any longer, ‘By the life of the Lord who…Egypt,’ but, ‘by the life of the Lord who…,’ and I will bring them back….”
- Jeremiah 16:16 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift that might create confusion.
- Jeremiah 16:16 tn Heb “Behold, I am about to send for many fishermen, and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”sn The picture of rounding up the population for destruction and exile is also seen in Amos 4:2 and Hab 1:14-17.
- Jeremiah 16:17 tn Heb “For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from before me. And their sin is not hidden away from before my eyes.”
- Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “First.” Many English versions and commentaries delete this word because it is missing from the Greek version and is considered a gloss added by a postexilic editor who is said to be responsible also for vv. 14-16. However, the reading of the MT is well attested, being supported by the other ancient versions. The word here refers to order in rank or order of events. Compare Gen 38:28 and 1 Kgs 18:25. Here allusion is made to the restoration previously mentioned. First in order of events is the punishment of destruction and exile, then restoration.
- Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “double.” However, usage in Deut 15:18 and probably Isa 40:2 argues for “full compensation.” This is supported also by usage in a tablet from Alalakh in Syria. See P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 218, for bibliography.
- Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “my inheritance.”sn For earlier references to the term used here see Jer 2:7, where it applies as here to the land, Jer 10:16 and 12:8-9, where it applies to the people, and Jer 12:7, where it applies to the temple.
- Jeremiah 16:18 tn Many of the English versions take “lifeless statues of their detestable idols” with “filled” as a compound object. This follows the Masoretic punctuation but violates usage. The verb “fill” never takes an object preceded by the preposition בְּ (bet).
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.