Before I formed you in the
womb is similar to the
words of the “servant of the Lord“(Isa 49:1, 5) and of Paul (Gal 1:15). The
idea is expressed in TEV by “before I gave you life” and in GECL by “Before I
called you into life.” In thought the statement is parallel to before you were born. Both expressions
affirm Jeremiah’s conviction that God had destined him to be a prophet, even
before his conception and birth. In some languages it is quite natural and not
too high a level of language to retain womb,
often in a phrase such as “your mother’s womb.” It must be clear, of course,
that this is not a case of God causing the prophet’s mother to conceive, as
with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Rather, God’s hand is seen as active in all
things.
Scholars agree that the Hebrew word translated knew covers a much larger area of meaning than that of intellectual
knowledge. When used of human beings it refers to the closest relationship
possible; and when God is subject it describes his complete understanding of
the total person as a thinking, willing, and feeling being. In the present
context it has the more restricted meaning of “choose,” as it does in Gen
18:19; Hos 13:5; Amos 3:2. neb translates I
knew you as “I knew you for my own,” while GECL has “I had a plan for you.”
Notice that TEV has reversed the order of the first part of the verse: “I chose
you before I gave you life.” This may be more natural in other languages as
well, although the order in the text is not unusual in English poetry.
Consecrated comes from a verb that is often
translated “make holy.” However, in the biblical context the word is not used
in an ethical sense (“make sinless”) but in a religious sense (“set apart to
the service of God”). In the present context consecrated is parallel to knew,
and so tev translates the two
verbs as “I chose … I selected.” gecl
uses an idiomatic expression of the same meaning for consecrated: “I had already laid my hand on you.” However, here is
an example of parallel lines where the second part adds to the first. The
meaning, stated fully, is: “Before I gave you life I knew you; in fact, before
you were born I had selected you for my service.” In translation “in fact”
might not be necessary, of course.
I appointed you a prophet to
the nations: This line
expands on the verb consecrated. The
service for which Jeremiah was selected was to be a prophet. Again, there is the temptation to collapse the last two
lines of this verse into “Before you were born I had selected you to serve me
as my prophet.” But there is a progression of ideas in the lines of this verse
which would be lost in this restructuring: I knew you, I set you aside, I gave
you an appointment. Translators should try to retain this. More than “elect” or
“choose,” appointed means to name
someone to a post or position. Thus only someone in authority can appoint. If
there is no one word for this, translators can use “made” or “gave you the
task” or “assigned you to be.”
Great care must be taken in the translation of the word prophet. The primary role of the Old
Testament prophet was to speak God’s message to the people of his own day. Too
often translators have wanted to render this as “future teller” or “seer”; but
even when the prophets did speak of the future (only a small part of the time),
it was in the context of delivering the word that God had given them. “God’s
spokesman” is therefore a better rendering. Most translators working on
Jeremiah will have already struggled with prophet
in the New Testament, and they should use the same term here (assuming they
rendered it correctly in the New Testament!). It should be distinguished from
“angel,” usually translated “messenger [from God],” and “apostle,” a term
referring to someone sent with a particular commission.
To the nations: As one scholar notes, the meaning to be
understood here is not merely that Jeremiah is to proclaim God’s word to the
non-Jewish peoples (something he actually did in his own time), but also that
his prophetic message will have a continuing value for the nations even after
the fall of Judah. Moreover, in the context in which Jeremiah lived, it was
impossible to deliver a message to his own nation that in some manner or
another did not also have relevance for the international scene. The nations, therefore, can be rendered
by “all nations.” If nations itself
is a problem, then translators can use “all peoples,” “all countries,” or
possibly “all kingdoms.” But since Judah is included, it would certainly be
wrong to use the term for “gentiles.” (Barclay M. Newman, Jr., and
Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on Jeremiah [UBS Handbook Series; New York:
United Bible Societies, 2003], 27-29)
