Jeremiah 11:19

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me. ¹ 

I did not know they were saying, ² 

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! ³ 

Let’s remove Jeremiah ⁴  from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 37:13

37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. ⁶  There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, ⁷  who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, ⁸  “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).

⁴ tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.

⁵ tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”

⁶ sn The Benjamin Gate would have been a gate in the northern wall leading out toward the territory of Benjamin. It is mentioned only here and in Jer 38:7 and Zech 14:10.

⁷ sn Nothing further is known about Irijah. It is generally agreed that the Hananiah mentioned here is not the same as the false prophet of the same name whom Jeremiah confronted approximately six years earlier (28:1, 5, 10, 15).

⁸ tn Heb “And he was in the gate of Benjamin and there was an officer of the guard whose name [more literally, and his name] was Irijah…and he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying.” The sentence has been broken down and simplified to better conform with contemporary English style.

⁹ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.