18:16 Below his roots dry up,
and his branches wither above.
18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,
he has no name in the land. 3
109:13 May his descendants 4 be cut off! 5
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! 6
22:30 The Lord says,
“Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. 7
Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.
For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David
or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”
1 tn Heb “and there were born.”
2 tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And she became a wife to Rehoboam the son of Solomon and bore to him Abia.”
3 tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.
4 tn Or “offspring.”
5 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
6 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
7 tn Heb “Write this man childless.” For the explanation see the study note. The word translated “childless” has spawned some debate because Jeconiah was in fact not childless. There is record from both the Bible and ancient Near Eastern texts that he had children (see, e.g., 1 Chr 3:17). G. R. Driver, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 (1937-38): 115, has suggested that the word both here and in Lev 20:20-21 should be translated “stripped of honor.” While that would relieve some of the difficulties here, the word definitely means “childless” in Gen 15:2 and also in Sir 16:3 where it is contrasted with having godless children. The issue is not one of childlessness but of having “one of his sons” succeed to the Davidic throne. The term for “one of his sons” is literally “from his seed a man” and the word “seed” is the same one that is used to refer to his “children” who were forced into exile with him (v. 28).