25:14 When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people 9 of Seir and made them his personal gods. 10 He bowed down before them and offered them sacrifices. 25:15 The Lord was angry at Amaziah and sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why are you following 11 these gods 12 that could not deliver their own people from your power?” 13 25:16 While he was speaking, Amaziah 14 said to him, “Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!” 15 So the prophet stopped, but added, “I know that the Lord has decided 16 to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.”
25:17 After King Amaziah of Judah consulted with his advisers, 17 he sent this message to the king of Israel, Joash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, “Come, face me on the battlefield.” 18
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.” 32 They took all the bronze to Babylon. 52:18 They also took the pots, shovels, 33 trimming shears, 34 basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. 35 52:19 The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, 36 basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels. 37 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 38 ) was too heavy to be weighed. 52:21 Each of the pillars was about 27 feet 39 high, about 18 feet 40 in circumference, three inches 41 thick, and hollow. 52:22 The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet 42 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.
1 tn Or “temple.”
2 tn Heb “in Babylon.” Repeating the proper name “Babylon” here would be redundant in contemporary English, so “there” has been used in the translation.
3 tn Heb “sent and brought him.”
4 tn Heb “and he made Zedekiah his brother king.” According to the parallel text in 2 Kgs 24:17, Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle, not his brother. Therefore many interpreters understand אח here in its less specific sense of “relative” (NEB “made his father’s brother Zedekiah king”; NASB “made his kinsman Zedekiah king”; NIV “made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king”; NRSV “made his brother Zedekiah king”).
5 tn Heb “had sent back from going with him to the battle.”
6 tn Heb “stripped.”
7 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
8 tn Heb “struck down.”
9 tn Heb “sons.”
10 tn Heb “caused them to stand for him as gods.”
11 tn Heb “seeking,” perhaps in the sense of “consulting [an oracle from].”
12 tn Heb “the gods of the people.”
13 tn Heb “hand.”
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “Stop yourself! Why should they strike you down?”
16 tn The verb יָעַץ (ya’ats, “has decided”) is from the same root as יוֹעֵץ (yo’ets, “counselor”) in v. 16 and עֵצָה (’etsah, “advice”) later in v. 16. The wordplay highlights the appropriate nature of the divine punishment. Amaziah rejected the counsel of God’s prophet; now he would be the victim of God’s “counsel.”
17 tn The words “with his advisers” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
18 tn Heb “let us look at each other [in the] face.” The expression refers here not to a visit but to meeting in battle. See v. 21.
19 tn The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the
20 tn Heb “the word of the
21 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
22 tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the
23 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.
24 tn The words “two bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.
25 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.
26 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 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.
28 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.
29 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
30 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.
31 tn Heb “oracle of the
32 sn For discussion of the items listed here, see the study notes at Jer 27:19.
33 sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.
34 sn These trimming shears were used to trim the wicks of the lamps.
35 tn Heb “with which they served (or “fulfilled their duty”).”
36 sn The censers held the embers used for the incense offerings.
37 sn These vessels were used for drink offerings.
38 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.
39 tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
40 tn Heb “twelve cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
41 tn Heb “four fingers.”
42 tn Heb “five cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
43 tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.
44 tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”