Jeremiah 23:36

Footnotes

1. 104 Heb “burden of the Lord.”
2. 105 Heb “the burden.”
3. 106 Heb “The burden is [or will be] to a man his word.” There is a good deal of ambiguity regarding how this line is to be rendered. For the major options and the issues involved W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1: should be consulted. Most of them are excluded by the observation that מַשָּׂא probably does not mean “oracle” anywhere in this passage (see note on v. regarding the use of this word). Hence it does not mean “every man’s word becomes his oracle” as in or “for that ‘burden’ [= oracle] is what he entrusts to the man of his word” (W. McKane, Jeremiah [], 1:). The latter is also ruled out by the fact that the antecedent of “his” on “his word” is clearly the word “man” in front of it. This would be the only case where the phrase “man of his word” occurs. There is also no textual reason for repointing the noun with the article as the noun with the interrogative to read “For how can his word become a burden to anyone?” There are, of course, other options but this is sufficient to show that the translation has been chosen after looking at other alternatives.
4. 107 Heb “turning.” See 245 הָפַךְ Qal.1.c and Lev 13:55; Jer 13:23 “changing, altering.”
5. 108 Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on for the explanation of the significance of this title.