2 Kings 18:14

18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. ¹  If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” ²  So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents ³  of silver and thirty talents of gold.

Joshua 9:11

9:11 Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, “We are willing to be your subjects. ⁴  Make a treaty with us.”’

Joshua 9:24-25

9:24 They said to Joshua, “It was carefully reported to your subjects ⁵  how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified ⁶  we would lose our lives, so we did this thing. 9:25 So now we are in your power. ⁷  Do to us what you think is good and appropriate. ⁸ 

Joshua 9:1

The Gibeonites Deceive Israel

9:1 When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan ⁹  – in the hill country, the lowlands, ¹⁰  and all along the Mediterranean coast ¹¹  as far as ¹²  Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) –

Joshua 20:4

20:4 The one who committed manslaughter ¹³  should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. ¹⁴  They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there. ¹⁵ 

Joshua 20:1

Israel Designates Cities of Refuge

20:1 The Lord instructed Joshua:

Jeremiah 27:7-8

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ¹⁶  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ¹⁷  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ¹⁸  27:8 But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to ¹⁹  him. I, the Lord, affirm that ²⁰  I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it ²¹  with war, ²²  starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it. ²³ 

Jeremiah 27:17

27:17 Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you ²⁴  will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?’” ²⁵ 

John 12:26

12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ²⁶  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ²⁷  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

¹ tn Or “I have done wrong.”

² tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”

³ tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.

⁴ tn Heb “your servants.”

⁷ tn Heb “your servants.”

⁸ tn Or “we were very afraid.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “so now, look, we are in your hand.”

¹¹ tn Heb “according to what is good and according to what is upright in your eyes to do us, do.”

¹³ tn Heb “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan heard.”

¹⁴ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “all the coast of the Great Sea.” The “Great Sea” was the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

¹⁶ tn Heb “in front of.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the one who accidentally kills another, cf. v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “and speak into the ears of the elders of that city his words.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “and they should gather him into the city to themselves, give to him a place, and he will live with them.”

¹⁹ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

²⁰ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

²¹ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

²² tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

²³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

²⁴ tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the Lord.” The long complex Hebrew sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and the figures interpreted for the sake of clarity. The particle אֵת, the sign of the accusative, before “which will not put…” is a little unusual here. For its use to introduce a new topic (here a second relative clause) see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α.

²⁵ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

²⁶ tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.

²⁵ tn The imperative with vav (ו) here and in v. 12 after another imperative are a good example of the use of the imperative to introduce a consequence. (See GKC 324-25 §110.f and see Gen 42:18. This is a common verb in this idiom.)

²⁶ tn According to E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 954) both this question and the one in v. 13 are examples of rhetorical questions of prohibition / “don’t let this city be made a pile of rubble.”

²⁸ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

²⁹ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”