Ezra 1:7-8

1:7 Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the Lord’s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed ¹  in the temple of his gods. 1:8 King Cyrus of Persia entrusted ²  them to ³  Mithredath ⁴  the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar ⁵  the leader of the Judahite exiles. ⁶ 

Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace ⁷  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented ⁸  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Yeremia 27:16

27:16 I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ⁹  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ¹⁰  But they are prophesying a lie to you.

Yeremia 27:18-22

27:18 I also told them, ¹¹  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ¹²  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ¹³  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ¹⁴  to Babylon. 27:19 For the Lord who rules over all ¹⁵  has already spoken about the two bronze pillars, ¹⁶  the large bronze basin called ‘The Sea,’ ¹⁷  and the movable bronze stands. ¹⁸  He has already spoken about the rest of the valuable articles that are left in this city. 27:20 He has already spoken about these things that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away as captives. ¹⁹  27:21 Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²⁰  has already spoken ²¹  about the valuable articles that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 27:22 He has said, ‘They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again. ²²  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ²³ 

Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ²⁴  delivered ²⁵  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ²⁶  along with some of the vessels ²⁷  of the temple of God. ²⁸  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ²⁹  to the temple of his god ³⁰  and put ³¹  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel 5:2

5:2 While under the influence ³²  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ³³  had confiscated ³⁴  from the temple in Jerusalem ³⁵  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ³⁶ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “and he gave them.”

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “brought them forth.”

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

[1:8]  ⁴ sn A Persian name meaning “gift of Mithras.” See HALOT 656 s.v. מִתְרְדָת.

[1:8]  ⁵ sn A Babylonian name with the probable meaning “Shamash protect the father.” See HALOT 1664-65 s.v. שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר.

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “Sheshbazzar the prince to Judah”; TEV, CEV “the governor of Judah.”

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Or “temple.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Aram “they were given.”

[27:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you….” The sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style and one level of embedded quotes has been eliminated to ease complexity.

[27:16]  ¹⁰ sn This refers to the valuable articles of the temple treasury which were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar four years earlier when he carried off Jeconiah, his family, some of his nobles, and some of the cream of Judean society (2 Kgs 24:10-16, especially v. 13 and see also vv. 19-20 in the verses following).

[27:18]  ¹¹ tn The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the Lord is spoken about in the third person in vv. 18, 19, 21 that he is not the speaker. This is part of Jeremiah’s own speech to the priests and the people (v. 16). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ¹² tn Heb “the word of the Lord is with them.”

[27:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[27:18]  sn For the significance of this title see the study note on 2:19.

[27:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the Lord…so that the valuable articles…will not go to Babylon.” The long original sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style.

[27:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:19]  ¹⁶ tn The words “two bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.

[27:19]  sn The two bronze pillars are the two free-standing pillars at the entrance of the temple (Jakin and Boaz) described in 1 Kgs 7:15-22.

[27:19]  ¹⁷ tn The words “the large bronze basin called” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.

[27:19]  sn “The Sea” refers to the large basin that was mounted on twelve bronze bulls. It stood in front of the temple and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (2 Chr 4:6; cf. Exod 30:17-21). It is described in 1 Kgs 7:23-26.

[27:19]  ¹⁸ tn The words “movable bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent. See the study note for further reference.

[27:19]  sn The bronze stands are the movable bronze stands described in 1 Kgs 7:27-37. They were the stands for the bronze basins described in 1 Kgs 7:38-39. According to 2 Chr 4:6 the latter were used to wash the burnt offerings. The priests would have been very concerned especially about the big bronze basin and the movable stands and their basins because they involved their ritual purification apart from which they would have had no sanctity. These articles (or furnishings in this case) were broken up and the bronze carried away to Babylon along with all the other bronze, silver, and gold furnishings when the temple and the city were destroyed in 587 b.c. (see 2 Kgs 25:13-15; Jer 52:17-19).

[27:20]  ¹⁹ tn 27:19-20 are all one long sentence in Hebrew. It has been broken up for the sake of English style. Some of the sentences still violate contemporary English style (e.g., v. 20) but breaking them down any further would lose the focus. For further discussion see the study note on v. 21.

[27:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:21]  ²¹ sn Some of the flavor of the repetitive nature of Hebrew narrative is apparent in vv. 19-21. In the Hebrew original vv. 19-20 are all one long sentence with complex coordination and subordinations. I.e., all the objects in v. 19 are all objects of the one verb “has spoken about” and the description in v. 20 is one long relative or descriptive clause. The introductory “For the Lord…has already spoken” is repeated in v. 21 from v. 19 and reference is made to the same articles once again, only in the terms that were used in v. 18b. By this means, attention is focused for these people (here the priests and the people) on articles which were of personal concern for them and the climax or the punch line is delayed to the end. The point being made is that the false prophets are mistaken; not only will the articles taken to Babylon not be returned “very soon” but the Lord had said that the ones that remained would be taken there as well. They ought rather pray that the Lord will change his mind and not carry them off as well.

[27:22]  ²² tn This verb is a little difficult to render here. The word is used in the sense of taking note of something and acting according to what is noticed. It is the word that has been translated several times throughout Jeremiah as “punish [someone].” It is also used in the opposite of sense of taking note and “show consideration for” (or “care for;” see, e.g., Ruth 1:6). Here the nuance is positive and is further clarified by the actions that follow, bringing them back and restoring them.

[27:22]  ²³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ²⁹ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

[5:2]  ³² tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

[5:2]  ³³ tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

[5:2]  ³⁴ tn Or “taken.”

[5:2]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:2]  ³⁶ sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.