Jeremiah 4 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 4:11, 4:22
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 4
Jeremiah 4
Hebrew source: BHS4 • chapter 4
Greek source: LXX4 • chapter 4
Verse 4:1 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:1] If you return, Israel—YHWH's declaration—return to Me. If you remove your abominations from My presence and do not wander,
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:1] If Israel returns, says the Lord, he will return to Me; if he removes his abominations from his mouth and shows reverence before Me,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek uses third-person conditional clauses, adds mouth, and has reverence rather than not wandering; Hebrew's first return-to-Me clause can alternatively be read as a prediction.
Verse 4:2 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:2] and swear, 'As YHWH lives,' in truth, justice, and righteousness, then nations will bless themselves in Him and glory in Him.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:2] and swears, 'The Lord lives,' with truth and in judgment and righteousness, then nations will bless in her, and in Him they will praise God in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek retains a feminine pronoun in the blessing clause and adds God in Jerusalem; its pronoun relationships are not silently regularized to the Hebrew.
Verse 4:3 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:3] For thus says YHWH to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:3] For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem: Break up fallow ground for yourselves, and do not sow among thorns.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both employ the agricultural command as an image of renewal.
Verse 4:4 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:4] Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury go out like fire and burn with no one to quench it because of the evil of your deeds.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:4] Be circumcised to your God, and circumcise your hardness of heart, men of Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem, lest My fury come out like fire and burn, and there be no one to extinguish it because of the evil of your practices.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek hardness of heart interprets the Hebrew heart-foreskin image and says your God rather than YHWH.
Verse 4:5 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:5] Declare in Judah and make it heard in Jerusalem; say: Sound a ram's horn in the land! Cry aloud and say: Gather, and let us enter the fortified cities!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:5] Announce in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; say: Signal with a trumpet over the land, and cry loudly! Say: Gather, and let us enter the walled cities!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Ram's horn translates Hebrew shofar; Greek salpinx is trumpet.
Verse 4:6 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:6] Raise a signal toward Zion; flee for safety, do not stand still, for I am bringing disaster from the north and great destruction.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:6] Take up and flee to Zion; hurry, do not stand still, for I am bringing evils from the north and great crushing.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek take up has no expressed object corresponding to the Hebrew signal; the unfinished object is not supplied as a separate Greek noun.
Verse 4:7 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:7] A lion has gone up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out and left his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities will be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:7] A lion has gone up from his enclosure; destroying nations, he has set out and left his place to make the land a desolation, and cities will be demolished so that they are not inhabited.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The lion's enclosure and the absence of possessive your distinguish the Greek wording.
Verse 4:8 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:8] For this, put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for YHWH's burning anger has not turned away from us.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:8] For these things, gird yourselves with sackcloth, beat yourselves in mourning and wail, because the Lord's fury has not turned away from you.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew us and Greek you give different perspectives on the threatened community.
Verse 4:9 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:9] On that day—YHWH's declaration—the king's heart and the officials' heart will fail; the priests will be appalled and the prophets astounded.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:9] And it will be on that day, says the Lord: the king's heart and the rulers' heart will perish, and the priests will be beside themselves and the prophets astonished.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Heart retains the ancient idiom for courage and resolve rather than a medical diagnosis.
Verse 4:10 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:10] Then I said: Ah, Lord YHWH! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace,' while the sword reaches to the life!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:10] And I said: O Master, Lord, surely You have indeed deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace,' and look, the sword has reached to their soul!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both preserve the speaker's disturbing accusation as spoken, without replacing You with false prophets or turning the speech into an unqualified editorial assertion. Greek explicitly adds their.
Verse 4:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:11] At that time it will be said to this people and Jerusalem: A dry wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to winnow and not to cleanse!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:11] At that time they will say to this people and Jerusalem: A spirit of wandering in the wilderness; the daughter of My people's way is not toward purity or holiness.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek pneuma can also denote wind, but wandering and the way's purity/holiness differ substantially from the Hebrew agricultural wind image. Spirit is provisional in this clause.
Verse 4:12 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:12] A wind too full for these will come for Me; now I too will pronounce judgments against them.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:12] A spirit of filling will come to Me; but now I speak judgments against them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew too full for these refers back to the preceding purposes; Greek filling remains a difficult phrase and can also be rendered a wind of fullness.
Verse 4:13 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:13] Look, he comes up like clouds, his chariots like a whirlwind, his horses swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:13] Look, he will come up like a cloud, and his chariots like a storm; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, because we suffer misery!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The invading figure remains unnamed in both running texts.
Verse 4:14 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:14] Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked schemes lodge within you?
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:14] Wash your heart clean of evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will the schemes of your troubles exist within you?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek ponoi can carry the sense of troubles or toils; the Hebrew more directly describes wicked schemes.
Verse 4:15 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:15] For a voice declares from Dan and announces trouble from the hill country of Ephraim.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:15] For the voice of one announcing will come from Dan, and trouble will be heard from Mount Ephraim.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both place the advancing announcement at Dan and Ephraim.
Verse 4:16 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:16] Make it known to the nations; look, announce against Jerusalem: Watchers come from a distant land and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:16] Remind the nations: Look, they have come! Announce in Jerusalem: Bands come from a distant land and have raised their voice against the cities of Judah.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek bands differs from Hebrew watchers; the latter can denote those besieging the city in this context.
Verse 4:17 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:17] Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she rebelled against Me—YHWH's declaration.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:17] Like those guarding a field they came against her all around, because you neglected Me, says the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek shifts from her to direct address and says neglected rather than rebelled.
Verse 4:18 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:18] Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your evil: how bitter it is, how it reaches to your heart!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:18] Your ways and your practices have done these things to you. This is your evil: it is bitter; it has reached to your heart.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both connect the bitter outcome to the addressed city's own conduct.
Verse 4:19 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:19] My inward parts, my inward parts! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart roars within me; I cannot be silent, for you have heard, my soul, the sound of a ram's horn, the alarm of war.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:19] My belly, my belly, I am in pain, and the senses of my heart! My soul rages, my heart is torn; I will not be silent, because my soul heard the sound of a trumpet, a cry of war.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek expands the heart-and-soul distress and makes my soul the subject of heard; Hebrew addresses my soul with you have heard. The bodily imagery is retained.
Verse 4:20 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:20] Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, in a moment my curtains.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:20] It calls out misery and crushing, because the whole land has suffered misery; suddenly the tent has suffered misery, and my tent coverings have been torn apart.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek's calling verb has an unexpressed subject and one tent rather than my tents; its construction remains provisional.
Verse 4:21 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:21] How long must I see a signal and hear the sound of a ram's horn?
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:21] How long will I see people fleeing while hearing the sound of trumpets?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek people fleeing replaces the Hebrew signal.
Verse 4:22 Disparate
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:22] For My people are foolish; they do not know Me. They are senseless children and have no understanding. They are wise at doing evil, but do not know how to do good.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:22] For the leaders of My people did not know Me; they are foolish sons and not discerning. They are wise at doing evil, but did not learn to do well.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek singles out the leaders of My people where Hebrew indicts My people as foolish.
Verse 4:23 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:23] I looked at the earth, and look, waste and emptiness; and at the heavens, and they had no light.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:23] I looked upon the earth, and look, nothing; and into heaven, and its lights were not there.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew tohu wa-bohu repeats the expression in Genesis 1:2; Greek here has nothing rather than that passage's wording, and lights is plural.
Verse 4:24 Same
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:24] I looked at the mountains, and look, they were quaking, and all the hills swayed.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:24] I saw the mountains, and they were trembling, and all the hills were being shaken.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both describe the shaking landscape.
Verse 4:25 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:25] I looked, and look, there was no human, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:25] I looked, and look, there was no human, and all the birds of heaven were terrified.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek describes the birds' alarm rather than explicitly their departure.
Verse 4:26 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:26] I looked, and look, the fruitful land was wilderness, and all its cities were pulled down before YHWH, before His burning anger.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:26] I saw, and look, Carmel was a wilderness, and all the cities were burned with fire before the Lord, and they vanished before His furious anger.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek Carmel retains its proper-name form; Hebrew karmel denotes fruitful land here. Greek expands destruction with burning and vanishing.
Verse 4:27 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:27] For thus says YHWH: The whole land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete end.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:27] Thus says the Lord: The whole land will be a wilderness, but I will certainly not make a complete end.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both explicitly limit the announced destruction.
Verse 4:28 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:28] For this the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken, I have planned, and I have not relented; I will not turn back from it.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:28] For these things let the earth mourn and let heaven above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not change My mind; I have set Myself in motion and will not turn back from it.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek uses commands for earth and heaven and a different order for the divine resolve clauses.
Verse 4:29 Divergent
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:29] At the sound of horsemen and bowmen the whole city flees; they enter thickets and climb among rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no human dwells in them.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:29] At the sound of a horseman and a drawn bow the whole countryside withdrew; they entered caves and hid in groves and climbed onto the rocks. Every city was abandoned; no human dwells in them.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds caves, distinguishes countryside from city, and explicitly says hid in groves.
Verse 4:30 Similar
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:30] And you, despoiled one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, adorn yourself with golden ornaments, and enlarge your eyes with black paint, in vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:30] And you, what will you do if you put on scarlet and adorn yourself with golden ornaments, and if you paint your eyes with antimony? Your beautifying is in vain; your lovers have rejected you; they seek your soul.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek lacks despoiled one and explicitly names antimony as eye cosmetic. Life and soul render the corresponding Hebrew and Greek life-terms in context.
Verse 4:31 Different
Hebrew–English Rabbinic Priority
[4:31] For I heard a voice like a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth for the first time: the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping, spreading her hands: Woe to me, for my soul faints before killers!
Greek–English Saints Priority
[4:31] For I heard a voice like a woman in labor, your groaning like one giving birth for the first time, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She will grow faint and let her hands fall: Woe to me, because my soul fails over those killed!
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has falling hands and grief over the killed, whereas Hebrew spreads hands and names killers. Greek also inserts your into the groaning phrase.