2 Chronicles 36:7

36:7 Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace ¹  there. ² 

Jeremiah 27:18-22

27:18 I also told them, ³  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ⁴  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ⁵  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁶  to Babylon. 27:19 For the Lord who rules over all ⁷  has already spoken about the two bronze pillars, ⁸  the large bronze basin called ‘The Sea,’ ⁹  and the movable bronze stands. ¹⁰  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. ¹¹  27:21 Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹²  has already spoken ¹³  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. ¹⁴  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ¹⁵ 

Daniel 1:1-2

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1:1 In the third ¹⁶  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ¹⁷  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ¹⁸  and laid it under siege. ¹⁹  1:2 Now the Lord ²⁰  delivered ²¹  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ²²  along with some of the vessels ²³  of the temple of God. ²⁴  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ²⁵  to the temple of his god ²⁶  and put ²⁷  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel 5:2

5:2 While under the influence ²⁸  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²⁹  had confiscated ³⁰  from the temple in Jerusalem ³¹  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ³² 

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ³³  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ³⁴  your very breath and all your ways!

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 The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the Lord is spoken about in the third person in vv. 18, 19, 21 that he is not the speaker. This is part of Jeremiah’s own speech to the priests and the people (v. 16). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is with them.”

⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

⁶ tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the Lord…so that the valuable articles…will not go to Babylon.” The long original sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style.

⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

⁸ tn The words “two bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁶ sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.

¹⁷ sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 B.C.

¹⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁹ sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 B.C. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 B.C., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.

²⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

²¹ tn Heb “gave.”

²² tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

²³ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

²⁴ tn Heb “house of God.”

²⁵ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

²⁶ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

²⁷ tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

²⁸ tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

²⁹ tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

³⁰ tn Or “taken.”

³¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³² sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.

³³ tn Aram “which.”

³⁴ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”