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
New Living Translation
30 What are you doing,
you who have been plundered?
Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing
and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara?
Your primping will do you no good!
The allies who were your lovers
despise you and seek to kill you.
31 I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor,
the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.
It is beautiful Jerusalem[a]
gasping for breath and crying out,
“Help! I’m being murdered!”
Footnotes
- 4:31 Hebrew the daughter of Zion.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
