Yeremia 3:24

3:24 From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal,

has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for.

It has taken away our flocks and our herds,

and even our sons and daughters.

Yeremia 4:20

4:20 I see ³  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ⁴  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ⁵  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ⁶ 

Yeremia 12:12

12:12 A destructive army ⁷  will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ⁸ 

against ⁹  everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 15:13

15:13 I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder.

I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

Yeremia 24:8-10

24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ¹¹  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹²  24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹³  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ¹⁴  24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease ¹⁵  on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’” ¹⁶ 

Yeremia 27:19-22

27:19 For the Lord who rules over all ¹⁷  has already spoken about the two bronze pillars, ¹⁸  the large bronze basin called ‘The Sea,’ ¹⁹  and the movable bronze stands. ²⁰  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. ²¹  27:21 Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²²  has already spoken ²³  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. ²⁴  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ²⁵ 

Yeremia 32:3-5

32:3 For King Zedekiah ²⁶  had confined Jeremiah there after he had reproved him for prophesying as he did. He had asked Jeremiah, “Why do you keep prophesying these things? Why do you keep saying that the Lord says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon? I will let him capture it. ²⁷  32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ²⁸  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ²⁹  32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ³⁰  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³¹  Even if you ³²  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ³³  you cannot win.’”

Yeremia 39:2

39:2 It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ³⁴  On that day they broke through the city walls.

Yeremia 39:8

39:8 The Babylonians ³⁵  burned down the royal palace, the temple of the Lord, and the people’s homes, ³⁶  and they tore down the wall of Jerusalem. ³⁷ 

Yeremia 52:7-23

52:7 They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ³⁸  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ³⁹  52:8 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, ⁴⁰  and his entire army deserted him. 52:9 They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah ⁴¹  in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. 52:10 The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah. 52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ⁴²  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

52:12 On the tenth ⁴³  day of the fifth month, ⁴⁴  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ⁴⁵  who served ⁴⁶  the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 52:13 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. 52:14 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 52:15 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor, ⁴⁷  the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the craftsmen. 52:16 But he ⁴⁸  left behind some of the poor ⁴⁹  and gave them fields and vineyards.

52:17 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the Lord, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the “The Sea.” ⁵⁰  They took all the bronze to Babylon. 52:18 They also took the pots, shovels, ⁵¹  trimming shears, ⁵²  basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. ⁵³  52:19 The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, ⁵⁴  basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels. ⁵⁵  52:20 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” and the movable stands ⁵⁶ ) was too heavy to be weighed. 52:21 Each of the pillars was about 27 feet ⁵⁷  high, about 18 feet ⁵⁸  in circumference, three inches ⁵⁹  thick, and hollow. 52:22 The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet ⁶⁰  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it. 52:23 There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

[3:24]  ¹ tn Heb “From our youth the shameful thing has eaten up…” The shameful thing is specifically identified as Baal in Jer 11:13. Compare also the shift in certain names such as Ishbaal (“man of Baal”) to Ishbosheth (“man of shame”).

[3:24]  ² tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[4:20]  ³ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ⁶ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.

[12:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “destroyers.”

[12:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “It is the Lord’s consuming sword.”

[12:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “For a sword of the Lord will devour.” The sword is often symbolic for destructive forces of all kinds. Here and in Isa 34:6; Jer 47:6 it is symbolic of the enemy armies that the Lord uses to carry out destructive punishment against his enemies, hence the translation “his destructive weapon.” A similar figure is use in Isa 10:5 where the figure is more clearly identified; Assyria is the rod/club that the Lord will use to discipline unfaithful Israel.

[12:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “There is no peace to all flesh.”

[24:8]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:8]  ¹² tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad] surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem which remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6;Gen 42:30.

[24:9]  ¹³ tn Or “an object of reproach in peoples’ proverbs…an object of ridicule in people’s curses.” The alternate translation treats the two pairs which are introduced without vavs (ו) but are joined by vavs as examples of hendiadys. This is very possible here but the chain does not contain this pairing in 25:18; 29:18.

[24:9]  sn For an example of how the “example used in curses” worked, see Jer 29:22. Sodom and Gomorrah evidently function much that same way (see 23:14; 49:18; 50:40; Deut 29:23; Zeph 2:9).

[24:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will make them for a terror for disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and a curse in all the places which I banish them there.” The complex Hebrew sentence has been broken down into equivalent shorter sentences to conform more with contemporary English style.

[24:10]  ¹⁵ sn See Jer 14:12 and the study note there.

[24:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers.”

[27:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:19]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:21]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[32:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Zedekiah king of Judah.”

[32:3]  ²⁷ tn The translation represents an attempt to break up a very long Hebrew sentence with several levels of subordination and embedded quotations and also an attempt to capture the rhetorical force of the question “Why…” which is probably an example of what E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 953-54) calls a rhetorical question of expostulation or remonstrance (cf. the note on 26:9 and compare also the question in 36:29. In all three of these cases NJPS translates “How dare you…” which captures the force nicely). The Hebrew text reads, “For Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him, saying, ‘Why are you prophesying, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold I am giving this city into the hands of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’”’”

[32:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his [Zedekiah’s] mouth will speak with his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] mouth and his eyes will see his eyes.” The verbs here are an obligatory imperfect and its vav consecutive perfect equivalent. (See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples of the former and IBHS 528 §32.2.1d, n. 16, for the latter.)

[32:5]  ³⁰ tn This is the verb (פָּקַד, paqad) that has been met with several times in the book of Jeremiah, most often in the ominous sense of “punish” (e.g., 6:15; 11:22; 23:24) but also in the good sense of “resume concern for” (e.g., 27:22; 29:10). Here it is obviously in the ominous sense referring to his imprisonment and ultimate death (52:11).

[32:5]  sn Compare Jer 34:2-3 for this same prophecy. The incident in Jer 34:1-7 appears to be earlier than this one. Here Jeremiah is confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse; there he appears to have freedom of movement.

[32:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:5]  ³² sn The pronouns are plural here, referring to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah had counseled that they surrender (cf. 27:12; 21:8-10) because they couldn’t succeed against the Babylonian army even under the most favorable circumstances (37:3-10).

[32:5]  ³³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[39:2]  ³⁴ sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

[39:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Chaldean.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[39:8]  ³⁶ tc The reading here is based on an emendation following the parallels in Jer 52:13 and 2 Kgs 25:9. The Hebrew text here does not have “the temple of the Lord” and reads merely “house of the people.” The text here is probably corrupt. It reads וְאֶת־בֵּית הָעָם (vÿ’et-bet ha’am, “and the house of the people”), which many explain as a collective use of בַּיִת (bayit). However, no parallels are cited by any of the commentaries, grammars, or lexicons for such a use. It is more likely that the words יְהוָה וְאֶת־בָּתֵּי (yÿhvah vÿ’et-bate) have fallen out of the text due to similar beginnings. The words וְאֶת־בֵּית יהוה (vÿ’et-bet yhwh) are found in the parallel texts cited in the marginal note. The Greek version is no help here because vv. 4-13 are omitted, probably due to the similarities in ending of vv. 3, 13 (i.e., homoioteleuton of מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל, melekh bavel).

[39:8]  ³⁷ sn According to the parallels in 2 Kgs 25:8-9; Jer 52:12-13 this occurred almost a month after the wall was breached and Zedekiah’s failed escape. It took place under the direction of Nebuzaradan, the captain of the king’s special guard who is mentioned in the next verse.

[52:7]  ³⁸ sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.

[52:7]  ³⁹ sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.

[52:8]  ⁴⁰ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[52:9]  ⁴¹ sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.

[52:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[52:12]  ⁴³ tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”

[52:12]  ⁴⁴ sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

[52:12]  ⁴⁵ tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

[52:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “stood before.”

[52:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “poor of the people.”

[52:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and modern English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.

[52:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “poor of the land.”

[52:17]  ⁵⁰ sn For discussion of the items listed here, see the study notes at Jer 27:19.

[52:18]  ⁵¹ sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.

[52:18]  ⁵² sn These trimming shears were used to trim the wicks of the lamps.

[52:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “with which they served (or “fulfilled their duty”).”

[52:19]  ⁵⁴ sn The censers held the embers used for the incense offerings.

[52:19]  ⁵⁵ sn These vessels were used for drink offerings.

[52:20]  ⁵⁶ tc The translation follows the LXX (Greek version), which reflects the description in 1 Kgs 7:25-26. The Hebrew text reads, “the twelve bronze bulls under the movable stands.” הַיָּם (hayyam, “The Sea”) has been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton; note that the following form, הַמְּכֹנוֹת (hammÿkhonot, “the movable stands”), also begins with the article.

[52:21]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.

[52:21]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “twelve cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.

[52:21]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “four fingers.”

[52:22]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “five cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.