It is not always clear in Jeremiah’s oracles when it is the Lord speaking and when it is Jeremiah himself. He speaks, of course, as the Lord’s prophet, so in one sense all his words are the Lord’s words. But as we have already seen, Jeremiah will often include his personal reflections, responses and even pleadings as the Lord’s prophet. If it is Jeremiah’s voice we hear in Jeremiah 4:11, then he refers to Judah as the daughter of my people
as a way to show his sense of kinship with the nation, even as he speaks the Lord’s word of judgment against them.1 However, it is probably preferable to hear these words as the voice of the Lord himself. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the word daughter
is used to refer to the people of Judah (Jeremiah 4:31; Jeremiah 6:2, Jeremiah 6:23; Jeremiah 31:22). It means something like my very own people, my dear people. But despite this close bond between the Lord and his people, he is still bringing judgment against them.2 This makes the looming judgment even more stark and tragic.
11 En ce temps-là, il sera dit à ce peuple et à Jérusalem: Un vent brûlant souffle des lieux élevés du désert Sur le chemin de la fille de mon peuple, Non pour vanner ni pour nettoyer le grain.