Jeremiah 5:19-21

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 5:19 tn The word, “Jeremiah,” is not in the text but the second person address in the second half of the verse is obviously to him. The word is supplied in the translation here for clarity.
2. Jeremiah 5:19 tn The MT reads the second masculine plural; this is probably a case of attraction to the second masculine plural pronoun in the preceding line. An alternative would be to understand a shift from speaking first to the people in the first half of the verse and then speaking to Jeremiah in the second half, where the verb is second masculine singular (e.g., “When you [people] say, “Why…?” then you, Jeremiah, tell them…”).
3. Jeremiah 5:19 tn Heb “As you left me and…, so you will….” The translation was chosen so as to break up a rather long and complex sentence.
4. Jeremiah 5:19 sn This is probably a case of deliberate ambiguity (double entendre). The adjective “foreigners” is used for both foreign people (so Jer 30:8; 51:51) and foreign gods (so Jer 2:25; 3:13). See also Jer 16:13 for the idea of having to serve other gods in the lands of exile.
5. Jeremiah 5:20 sn The verbs are second plural here. Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, addresses his people, calling on them to make the message further known.
6. Jeremiah 5:20 tn Heb “in the house of Jacob.”
7. Jeremiah 5:21 tn Heb “they have eyes but they do not see; they have ears but they do not hear.”