translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: Beginning with 9:1 , the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text ( BHS ), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.


text: He will destroy them but not completely. See Jer 5:18; 30:11; 46:28 .


text: Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.


text: It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12 .