This royal edict read: 2 “O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return 3 to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria. 4 30:7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their ancestors, 5 provoking him to destroy them, 6 as you can see. 30:8 Now, don’t be stubborn 7 like your fathers! Submit 8 to the Lord and come to his sanctuary which he has permanently consecrated. Serve the Lord your God so that he might relent from his raging anger. 9 30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will be shown mercy by their captors and return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate; he will not reject you 10 if you return to him.”
1 tn Heb “the runners.”
2 tn Heb “and according to the command of the king, saying.”
3 tn The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
4 tn Heb “to the survivors who are left to you from the palm of the kings of Assyria.”
5 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 19, 22).
6 tn Heb “and he made them a devastation” (or, perhaps, “an object of horror”).
7 tn Heb “don’t stiffen your neck” (a Hebrew idiom for being stubborn).
8 tn Heb “give a hand.” On the meaning of the idiom here, see HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד 2.
9 tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from you.” The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
10 tn Heb “turn [his] face from you.”