Jer 16:16-18 | NET2full | STEP | “But for now I, the Lord , say : ‘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 .

‏ Jeremiah 16:16-18

16 “But for now I, the Lord, say: ^{▼▼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.} ‘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. ^{▼▼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.} 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. ^{▼▼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.”} 18 Before I restore them ^{▼▼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.} I will punish them in full ^{▼▼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.} 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 ^{▼▼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.} with their detestable idols.’ ^{▼▼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).}