Jeremiah 4:30-31
New English Translation
30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction,[a]
you accomplish nothing[b] by wearing a beautiful dress,[c]
decking yourself out in jewels of gold,
and putting on eye shadow![d]
You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers spurn you.
They want to kill you.[e]
31 In fact,[f] I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,
a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.
It is the cry of Daughter Zion[g] gasping for breath,
reaching out for help,[h] saying, “I am done in![i]
My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 4:30 tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership that was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.
- Jeremiah 4:30 tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.
- Jeremiah 4:30 tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”
- Jeremiah 4:30 tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.
- Jeremiah 4:30 tn Heb “they seek your life.”
- Jeremiah 4:31 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.
- Jeremiah 4:31 sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless young woman giving birth.
- Jeremiah 4:31 tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.
- Jeremiah 4:31 tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”
Jeremiah 4:30-31
Expanded Bible
30 You destroyed nation [C Judah], what are you doing?
Why do you put on ·scarlet [purple; C an expensive dress]
and decorate yourself with gold jewelry?
Why do you ·put color around your eyes [L enlarge your eyes with black eye paint]?
You make yourself beautiful, ·but it is all useless [in vain; without purpose].
Your lovers ·hate [despise; reject] you;
they ·want to kill you [L seek your life].
31 I hear a cry like a woman ·having a baby [writhing in labor],
·distress [trouble] like a woman having her first child.
It is the sound of ·Jerusalem [L the daughter of Zion; C the location of the Temple] gasping for breath.
She ·lifts [L spreads] her hands in prayer and says,
“·Oh! I am about to [Woe to me, for I am] faint
before my murderers!”
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