Jeremiah 23 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetry in 23:5–6, 9–24.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Prophesying lies

The false prophets had encouraged people to continue sinning by saying everything will be alright. (See: prophet and sin)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Wordplay

In Hebrew, the word for “message” can also mean “burden.” In translations that are using footnotes, you may want to explain the wordplay in a footnote. In translations that are not using footnotes or which will primarily be distributed in an oral form, you may need a sentence like “What message has the Lord burdened you with now?” or “You (plural) call God’s message a heavy burden on you.”