Jeremiah 6:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 6:16 tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
2. Jeremiah 6:16 tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”
3. Jeremiah 6:16 tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).
4. Jeremiah 6:16 tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”
5. Jeremiah 6:17 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
6. Jeremiah 6:17 tn Heb “I appointed watchmen over you.”
7. Jeremiah 6:17 tn Heb “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet.” The word “warning” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.
8. Jeremiah 6:18 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the flow of the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
9. Jeremiah 6:18 tn Heb “Know, congregation [or witness], what in [or against] them.” The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The meaning of the noun of address in the second line (“witness,” rendered as an imperative in the translation, “Be witnesses”) is greatly debated. It is often taken as “congregation” but the lexicons and commentaries generally question the validity of reading that word since it is nowhere else applied to the nations. BDB 417 s.v. עֵדָה 3 says that the text is dubious. HALOT 747 s.v. I עֵדָה, 4 emends the text to דֵּעָה (deʿah, “wisdom”). Several modern English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, God’s Word) take it as the feminine singular noun “witness” (cf. BDB 729 s.v. II עֵדָה) and understand it as a collective. This solution is also proposed by J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 259, n. 3) and appears to make the best sense in the context. The end of the line is very elliptical, but on the basis of the following context it is generally taken as either “what I will do with/to them” or “what is coming against them” (= “what will happen to them”).