Jeremiah 16 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 16:13
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 16
Jeremiah 16
Hebrew source: BHS16 • chapter 16
Greek source: LXX16 • chapter 16
Verse 16:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:1] YHWH's word came to me, saying:
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:1] And you shall not take a wife, says the Lord, Israel's God,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek begins the marriage prohibition here and has its own speech formula; Hebrew places that prohibition in 16:2 after this introduction.
Verse 16:2 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:2] You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:2] and no son or daughter shall be born to you in this place.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The Greek marriage prohibition was translated once in the preceding source verse; Hebrew combines it with the children clause here.
Verse 16:3 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:3] For thus says YHWH concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land:
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:3] For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and their mothers who bore them, and their fathers who begot them in this land:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce the fate of the local families.
Verse 16:4 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:4] They will die deaths of disease; they will not be mourned or buried, but become dung on the ground's surface. They will be consumed by sword and famine, and their corpses will be food for heaven's birds and the earth's beasts.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:4] They will die a diseased death; they will not be mourned or buried. They will be an example upon the earth's surface, and for the earth's wild beasts and heaven's birds; they will fall by the sword and be consumed by famine.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek an example differs from Hebrew dung, moves the sword/famine clauses to the end, and leaves the relationship to animals without the explicit noun food.
Verse 16:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:5] For thus says YHWH: Do not enter a house of mourning or go to lament or mourn for them, for I have taken My peace from this people—YHWH's declaration—steadfast kindness and compassion.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:5] Thus says the Lord: Do not enter their gathering or go to beat yourself in mourning, and do not mourn them, because I have removed My peace from this people.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek gathering differs from Hebrew marzeah, a funerary gathering in context, and lacks the final declaration and kindness/compassion clauses.
Verse 16:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:6] Great and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, and no one will mourn them, cut himself, or make himself bald for them.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:6] They certainly will not mourn them or make cuts, and they will not shave themselves,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek lacks the great-and-small deaths and burial statements here, retaining only the mourning practices.
Verse 16:7 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:7] They will not break bread for them in mourning, to comfort someone over the dead, or give them a cup of consolation for his father or mother.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:7] and bread certainly will not be broken in their mourning for consolation over one dead; they will not give him a cup for consolation over his father and mother.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly names bread; Hebrew's breaking verb has bread supplied from the mourning-meal context. The singular/plural mourner references are not made into additional persons.
Verse 16:8 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:8] Do not enter a house of feasting to sit with them, eating and drinking.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:8] You shall not enter a house of drinking to sit with them to eat and drink.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both exclude the prophet from the communal feast.
Verse 16:9 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:9] For thus says YHWH of hosts, Israel's God: Look, before your eyes and in your days I am stopping from this place the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:9] Because thus says the Lord, Israel's God: Look, before your eyes and in your days I am stopping from this place the sound of joy and rejoicing, the voice of bridegroom and bride.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek lacks of hosts; both emphasize the audience's own lifetime.
Verse 16:10 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:10] When you tell this people all these words and they say to you, 'Why has YHWH pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what sin have we committed against YHWH our God?'
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:10] And when you announce all these utterances to this people and they say to you, 'Why did the Lord speak all these evils against us? What is our injustice, and what is our sin that we sinned before the Lord our God?'
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek lacks great but retains the two-part question about wrongdoing.
Verse 16:11 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:11] you shall say to them: Because your fathers abandoned Me—YHWH's declaration—and followed other gods, served them, and bowed down to them; they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:11] you shall say to them: Because your fathers abandoned Me, says the Lord, and went after foreign gods and served them and bowed down to them, and abandoned Me and did not keep My law,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both repeat abandoned Me as part of the indictment.
Verse 16:12 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:12] And you have done worse than your fathers; look, each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart, refusing to listen to Me.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:12] and you acted more wickedly than your fathers, and look, each of you follows what pleases your evil heart, so as not to obey Me,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek what pleases differs from Hebrew stubbornness.
Verse 16:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:13] I will hurl you from this land into a land neither you nor your fathers knew. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:13] and I will cast you away from this land into the land neither you nor your fathers knew, and there you will serve other gods who will give you no mercy.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek makes the other gods the agents withholding mercy, whereas Hebrew divine I withholds favor; Greek also lacks day and night.
Verse 16:14 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:14] Therefore look, days are coming—YHWH's declaration—when it will no longer be said, 'As YHWH lives, who brought Israel's sons up from Egypt's land,'
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:14] Therefore look, days are coming, says the Lord, and they will no longer say, 'The Lord lives, who brought Israel's sons up from Egypt's land,'
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce a renewed deliverance formula.
Verse 16:15 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:15] but, 'As YHWH lives, who brought Israel's sons up from the northern land and all the lands where He drove them.' I will restore them to their soil that I gave their fathers.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:15] but, 'The Lord lives, who brought Israel's house up from the northern land and all the regions where they were driven.' And I will restore them to their land that I gave their fathers.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek house differs from Hebrew sons and makes the driving passive rather than naming He.
Verse 16:16 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:16] Look, I am sending for many fishermen—YHWH's declaration—and they will fish for them. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and hill and from the rocks' clefts.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:16] Look, I am sending the many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will fish for them; and after these things I will send the many hunters, and they will hunt them on every mountain and hill and from the rocks' openings.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both retain the capture imagery; a later application is not inserted into the ancient commission.
Verse 16:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:17] For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from Me, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:17] Because My eyes are upon all their ways, and their wrongdoings were not hidden before My eyes.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek compresses the two concealment clauses into one.
Verse 16:18 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:18] First I will repay double their iniquity and sin, because they profaned My land; with the corpses of their detestable things and their abominations they filled My inheritance.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:18] And I will repay double their injustices and sins, for which they profaned My land with the corpses of their abominations and with their lawless acts, by which they offended against My inheritance.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek lacks first and has offending against the inheritance rather than filling it. Corpses retain the source's polemical description of the detestable objects.
Verse 16:19 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:19] YHWH, my strength, my stronghold, my refuge in a day of distress, nations will come to You from the earth's ends and say: Our fathers inherited only falsehood, vapor, with nothing beneficial in them.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:19] Lord, my strength and help and refuge in a day of evils, nations will come to You from the earth's extremity and say: How our fathers acquired false idols, and there is no benefit in them!
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek help, acquisition and false idols differ from Hebrew stronghold, inheritance and vapor.
Verse 16:20 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:20] Can a human make gods for himself? They are not gods!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:20] Will a human make gods for himself? And these are not gods.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both expose the contradiction in manufactured gods.
Verse 16:21 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[16:21] Therefore look, this time I am making them know; I will make them know My hand and My might, and they will know that My name is YHWH.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[16:21] Therefore look, at this time I will show them My hand and make My power known to them, and they will know that My name is Lord.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both culminate in knowledge of the divine name, rendered according to each source's wording.