translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “Coniah.” For explanation of the rendering here see the translator’s note on 22:4 .


text: Heb “And Zedekiah son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah ruled as king instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim.” The sentence has been restructured and simplified to better conform to contemporary English style.


text: The words “as he pleased” are not in the text but are implicit in the idiom both in Hebrew and in English. They have been supplied in the translation for clarity and the sake of English idiom.


text: Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation here for the sake of clarity.


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Heb “And the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt and the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard a report about them and they went up from besieging them.” The sentence has been restructured and reworded to give greater emphasis to the most pertinent fact, i.e., that the siege had been temporarily lifted. The word “temporarily” is not in the text but is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation here to better show that the information in vv. 4-5 is all parenthetical, providing a background for the oracle that will follow. For the meaning “given up their siege against” ( Heb “had taken themselves away from against”) see BDB 749 s.v. עָלָה Niph.1.c(2); 759 s.v. עַל IV.2.b. sn The Pharaoh referred to here is Pharaoh Hophra who is named in Jer 44:30 . He ruled from 589-570 b.c . Shortly after he began to rule, Zedekiah had been enticed by some of the officials in his court to appeal to him for aid. This act of rebellion quickly brought Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath and he invaded Judah, blockading Jerusalem and reducing the fortified cities of Judah one by one. According to Jer 39:1 the siege began in Zedekiah’s ninth year (589/88 b.c. ) and lasted until his eleventh year when Jerusalem fell (587/86 b.c. ). The army of Pharaoh likely came sometime during 588 b.c .


text: Or “to ask me what will happen.” The dominant usage of the verb דָּרַשׁ ( darash ) is to “inquire” in the sense of gaining information about what will happen (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 14:5 ; 2 Kgs 8:8; 22:7-8 ) but it is also used in the sense of “seeking help” from (cf., e.g., Isa 31:1 ; 2 Chr 16:12; 20:3 ). The latter nuance appears appropriate in Jer 20:2 where Zedekiah is hoping for some miraculous intervention. That nuance also appears appropriate here where Zedekiah has sent messengers to ask Jeremiah to intercede on their behalf. However, it is also possible that the intent of both verbs is to find out from God whether the Egyptian mission will succeed and more permanent relief from the siege will be had.


text: Heb “will go back to its land, Egypt.”


text: Heb “Thus says the Lord , ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from against us” because they will not go away.’” The first person “I, the Lord ,” has been used because the whole of vv. 7-8 has been a quote from the Lord and it would be confusing to go back and start a separate quote. The indirect quote has been used instead of the direct quote to avoid the proliferation of quote marks at the end and the possible confusion that creates.


text: Heb “all the army of the Chaldeans.” For the rendering “Babylonian” in place of Chaldean see the study note on 21:4 .


text: The length and complexity of this English sentence violates the more simple style that has been used to conform such sentences to contemporary English style. However, there does not seem to be any alternative that would enable a simpler style and still retain the causal and conditional connections that give this sentence the rhetorical force that it has in the original. The condition is, of course, purely hypothetical and the consequence a poetic exaggeration. The intent is to assure Zedekiah that there is absolutely no hope of the city being spared.


text: The words “The following events also occurred” are not in the text. They are a way to introduce the incidents recorded in 37:11-21 without creating a long complex sentence in English like the Hebrew does. The Hebrew of vv. 11-12 a reads “And it was/happened while the army of the Chaldeans had taken themselves up from against Jerusalem, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to take part…” For the rendering “temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem” see the translator’s note on v. 5 . The words “was coming” are not in the text either but are implicit and have been supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English expression.


text: The meaning of this last sentence is somewhat uncertain. The Hebrew expression here occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible and its meaning is debated. The verb is pointed as a shortened form of the Hiphil infinitive construct of חָלַק ( khalaq ; see GKC 148 §53. q for explanation of the phenomenon and other examples). There are, however, no other examples of the use of this verb in the Hiphil. BDB 324 s.v. חָלַק Hiph defines it as “receive a portion” and explains it as a denominative from חֵלֶק ( kheleq , “portion”) but says that the form is dubious. KBL s.v. חָלַק Hif defines it as “take part in dividing” but that does not fit the prepositional phrase that follows ( מִשָּׁם , misham , “from there”) as well as “to receive a portion.” The Greek version did not understand this of dividing property but of conducting business. Later revisions of the Greek and the Latin version, however, did understand it of “taking a share.” The translation of BDB has been expanded to better reflect the probable situation. For the meaning of “his family” for the noun עַם (’ am ) compare the usage in Job 18:19 . For a fuller discussion of the probable situation see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 633-34. sn Though some commentators disagree, this transaction should not be viewed as subsequent to the transaction recorded in and seen as an attempt to take possession of a field that he had already bought. That transaction took place sometime later after he had been confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse (compare 32:2 with 37:21 ) and involved his buying a near relative’s field. The word used here refers to “getting one’s own share” (compare 1 Sam 30:24 ; Josh 15:13 , and see also Mic 2:4 ) not taking possession of someone else’s. “There” refers to the territory of Benjamin just mentioned but more specifically to Jeremiah’s hometown, Anathoth (cf. 1:1 ).


text: 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.


text: Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation. 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 ).


text: Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.


text: Heb “for they had made it into the house of confinement.” The causal particle does not fit the English sentence very well and “house of confinement” needs some explanation. Some translate this word “prison” but that creates redundancy with the earlier word translated “prison” ( בֵּית הָאֵסוּר , bet ha ’ esur , “house of the band/binding”] which is more closely related to the concept of prison [cf. אָסִיר , ’ asir , “prisoner”]). It is clear from the next verse that Jeremiah was confined in a cell in the dungeon of this place.


text: The particle כִּי ( ki ) here is probably temporal, introducing the protasis to the main clause in v. 17 (cf. BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.a). However, that would make the translation too long, so the present translation does what several modern English versions do here, though there are no parallels listed for this nuance in the lexicons.


text: Heb “Jeremiah came into the house of the pit [= “dungeon,” BDB 92 s.v. בּוֹר 4 and compare usage in Gen 40:15; 41:14 ] and into the cells [this word occurs only here; it is defined on the basis of the cognate languages (cf. BDB 333 s.v. חָנוּת )].” The sentence has been restructured and some words supplied in the translation to better relate it to the preceding context.


text: Heb “Jeremiah.” But the proper name is somewhat redundant and unnecessary in a modern translation.


text: Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”


text: Heb “Then he said.”


text: Heb “What crime have I committed against you, or your servants, or this people that you [masc. pl.] have put me in prison?” Some of the terms have been expanded for clarification and the sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style. The masculine plural is used here because Zedekiah is being addressed as representative of the whole group previously named.


text: Heb “And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’” The indirect quote has been used in the translation because of its simpler, more direct style.


text: Heb “My lord, the king.”


text: Heb “let my plea for mercy fall before you.” I.e., let it come before you and be favorably received (= granted; by metonymical extension).


text: Or “So that I will not die there,” or “or I will die there”; Heb “and I will not die there.” The particle that introduces this clause ( וְלֹא ) regularly introduces negative purpose clauses after the volitive sequence ( אַל [’ al ] + jussive here) according to GKC 323 §109. g . However, purpose and result clauses in Hebrew (and Greek) are often indistinguishable. Here the clause is more in the nature of a negative result.


text: Heb “And/Then King Zedekiah ordered and they committed Jeremiah to [or deposited…in] the courtyard of the guardhouse and they gave to him a loaf of bread.” The translation has been structured the way it has to avoid the ambiguous “they” which is the impersonal subject which is sometimes rendered passive in English (cf. GKC 460 §144. d ). This text also has another example of the vav ( ו ) + infinitive absolute continuing a finite verbal form ( וְנָתֹן [ vÿnaton ] = “and they gave”; cf. GKC 345 §113. y and see Jer 32:44; 36:23 ).


text: Heb “Stayed/Remained/ Lived.”