Yeremia 37:13-14

37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. ¹  There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, ²  who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, ³  “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” ⁴  37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” ⁵  But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

Yeremia 38:4

38:4 So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ⁶  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ⁷  This ⁸  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁹ 

Yeremia 43:3

43:3 But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us. ¹⁰  He wants to hand us over ¹¹  to the Babylonians ¹²  so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.”

[37:13]  ¹ sn The Benjamin Gate would have been a gate in the northern wall leading out toward the territory of Benjamin. It is mentioned only here and in Jer 38:7 and Zech 14:10.

[37:13]  ² sn Nothing further is known about Irijah. It is generally agreed that the Hananiah mentioned here is not the same as the false prophet of the same name whom Jeremiah confronted approximately six years earlier (28:1, 5, 10, 15).

[37:13]  ³ tn Heb “And he was in the gate of Benjamin and there was an officer of the guard whose name [more literally, and his name] was Irijah…and he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying.” The sentence has been broken down and simplified to better conform with contemporary English style.

[37:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[37:13]  sn Irijah’s charge was based on the suspicion that Jeremiah was following his own counsel to the people to surrender to the Babylonians if they wanted to save their lives (Jer 21:9).

[37:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).

[38:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “by saying these things.”

[38:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.

[38:4]  ⁹ tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”

[43:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “is inciting you against us.”

[43:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in order to give us into the hands of the Chaldeans.” The substitution “he wants to” as the equivalent of the purpose clause has been chosen to shorten the sentence to better conform with contemporary English style.

[43:3]  ¹² tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.