God speaks to Jerusalem through Jeremiah and says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” But it’s difficult to see God’s love in what appears to be threats of abandonment that come 28 amazing gracefrom him to His people. Jeremiah 6:8 is one of those. It reads, “Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” The Handbook for Translators helps us understand this passage better. It explains the first phrase “be warned” by saying, “The verb itself has the primary meaning of ‘take advice’ or ‘listen to reason.’ reb (Revised English Bible” translates ‘Learn your lesson,’ and njb  (New Jerusalem Bible) ‘Reform.’”[1] Every loving parent has probably talked to his or her children with similar words. We love them so much we don’t want them to make choices that would ruin their lives so we exhort, plead, and even warn them of the laws of sowing and reaping.

The Handbook says that the second phrase, “lest I turn from you in disgust,” might better be translated as “Lest I be alienated from you.” It suggests that some other translations might be more helpful: “…or else I will abandon you,” As today’s English Version has it. Or as the German Common Language Version has it, “or else I will turn my back on you.” The Handbook concludes its comments on this phrase by saying, “The construction is literally ‘or else my soul will be turned away from you.’”[2] Finally, the last phrase is “lest I make you a desolation.” The handbook suggests, “more simply, ‘or else I will make you something really shocking.’”[3]

We’ve all ignored the exhortations of our parents in some ways. We’ve all rejected the appeals to make right choices, yes “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We all deserve to reap what we have sown. But “God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” It was Jesus whose soul was abandoned by God while dying on the cross for our sins. It was Jesus whose appearance on the cross was shocking and is shocking to the world. But it fulfilled what another Prophet predicted, “But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.         All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved.” [4] This is essentially the Good News!

 

[1] Barclay M. Newman Jr. and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on Jeremiah, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 2003), 185.

[2] Barclay M. Newman Jr. and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on Jeremiah, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 2003), 185.

[3] Barclay M. Newman Jr. and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on Jeremiah, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 2003), 185.

[4] American Bible Society, The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation, 2nd ed. (New York: American Bible Society, 1992), Is 53:5–6.