Jeremiah 18:6

18:6 “I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? ²  In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

Jeremiah 20:4-5

20:4 For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ³  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ⁴  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword. 20:5 I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder ⁵  and carry it off to Babylon.

Jeremiah 27:3

27:3 Use it to send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, ⁶  and Sidon. ⁷  Send them through ⁸  the envoys who have come to Jerusalem ⁹  to King Zedekiah of Judah.

Jeremiah 27:6

27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ¹⁰  of my servant, ¹¹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹² 

Jeremiah 29:21

29:21 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹³  also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. ¹⁴  ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.

Jeremiah 32:3-4

32:3 For King Zedekiah ¹⁵  had confined Jeremiah there after he had reproved him for prophesying as he did. He had asked Jeremiah, “Why do you keep prophesying these things? Why do you keep saying that the Lord says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon? I will let him capture it. ¹⁶  32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ¹⁷  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 32:24

32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹⁹  in order to capture it. War, ²⁰  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ²¹  who are attacking it. ²²  Lord, ²³  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 32:36

32:36 “You and your people ²⁵  are right in saying, ‘War, ²⁶  starvation, and disease are sure to make this city fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.’ ²⁷  But now I, the Lord God of Israel, have something further to say about this city: ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 34:2

34:2 The Lord God of Israel told Jeremiah ²⁹  to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah ³⁰  to tell him, “The Lord says, ‘I am going to ³¹  hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.

Jeremiah 37:17

37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, ³²  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, ³³  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ³⁴ 

Jeremiah 38:16

38:16 So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised, ³⁵  “As surely as the Lord lives who has given us life and breath, ³⁶  I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.” ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 38:23

38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. ³⁸  You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the ³⁹  king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” ⁴⁰ 

Jeremiah 41:9

41:9 Now the cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of those he had killed was a large one ⁴¹  that King Asa had constructed as part of his defenses against King Baasha of Israel. ⁴²  Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with dead bodies. ⁴³ 

¹ tn This phrase (literally “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24.

² tn The words “deals with the clay” are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

³ tn Heb “I will make you an object of terror to both you and your friends.”

⁴ tn Heb “And they will fall by the sword of their enemies and [with] your eyes seeing [it].”

⁵ tn Heb “Take them [the goods, etc.] as plunder and seize them.”

⁷ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁸ sn The nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon were east of Judah. They were sometimes allies and sometimes enemies. The nations of Tyre and Sidon were on the sea coast north and west of Judah. They are best known for their maritime trade during the reign of Solomon. They were more commonly allies of Israel and Judah than enemies.

⁹ tn Heb “send by means of them” [i.e., the straps and crossbars made into a yoke] to…through.” The text is broken up in conformity with contemporary English style. Many English versions ignore the suffix on the end of “send” and find some support for this on the basis of its absence in the Lucianic Greek text. However, it is probably functioning metonymically here for the message which they see symbolized before them and is now explained clearly to them.

¹⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

¹⁰ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

¹¹ tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.

¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

¹² tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

¹³ tn Heb “Zedekiah king of Judah.”

¹⁴ tn The translation represents an attempt to break up a very long Hebrew sentence with several levels of subordination and embedded quotations and also an attempt to capture the rhetorical force of the question “Why…” which is probably an example of what E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 953-54) calls a rhetorical question of expostulation or remonstrance (cf. the note on 26:9 and compare also the question in 36:29. In all three of these cases NJPS translates “How dare you…” which captures the force nicely). The Hebrew text reads, “For Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him, saying, ‘Why are you prophesying, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold I am giving this city into the hands of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’”’”

¹⁵ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

¹⁶ tn Heb “his [Zedekiah’s] mouth will speak with his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] mouth and his eyes will see his eyes.” The verbs here are an obligatory imperfect and its vav consecutive perfect equivalent. (See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples of the former and IBHS 528 §32.2.1d, n. 16, for the latter.)

¹⁷ tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “sword.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

²⁰ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

²¹ tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.

²² tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “you.” However, the pronoun is plural and is addressed to more than just Jeremiah (v. 26). It includes Jeremiah and those who have accepted his prophecy of doom.

²⁰ tn Heb “sword.”

²¹ sn Compare Jer 32:24, 28. In 32:24 this is Jeremiah’s statement just before he expresses his perplexity about the Lord’s command to buy the field of his cousin in spite of the certainty of the city’s demise. In 32:28 it is the Lord’s affirmation that the city will indeed fall. Here, the Lord picks up Jeremiah’s assessment only to add a further prophesy (vv. 37-41) of what is just as sure to happen (v. 42). This is the real answer to Jeremiah’s perplexity. Verses 28-35 are an assurance that the city will indeed be captured and a reiteration again of the reason for its demise. The structure of the two introductions in v. 28 and v. 36 are parallel and flow out of the statement that the Lord is God of all mankind and nothing is too hard for him (neither destruction nor restoration [cf. 1:10]).

²² tn Heb “And now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city which you [masc. pl.] are saying has been given [prophetic perfect = will be given] into the hand of the king of Babylon through sword, starvation, and disease.” The translation attempts to render the broader structure mentioned in the study note and to break the sentence down in a way that conforms more to contemporary English style and that will lead into the speech which does not begin until the next verse. As in v. 28 the third person introduction has been changed to first person for smoother narrative style in a first person speech (i.e., vv. 27-44 are all the Lord’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer). The words “right in” added to “are saying” are intended to reflect the connection between v. 28 and the statement here (which is a repetition of v. 24). I.e., God does not deny that Jeremiah’s assessment is correct; he affirms it but has something further to say in answer to Jeremiah’s prayer.

²¹ tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²² tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²³ tn Heb 34:1 “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord…saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I am going to….”’”’” The translation has tried to avoid some of the confusion that is created by embedding quotations within quotations by using indirect quotation in some instances; the conceptualization is the same but the style is simpler.

²³ tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”

²⁴ tn Heb “Then he said.”

²⁵ sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)

²⁵ tn Heb “So King Zedekiah secretly swore an oath to Jeremiah, saying.”

²⁶ tn Heb “who has made this life/soul/ breath [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] for us.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ refers to the living, breathing substance of a person which constitutes his very life (cf. BDB 659 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 1; 3).

²⁷ tn Heb “who are seeking your life.”

²⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

²⁸ tn Heb “you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by [caught in] the hand of the king of Babylon.” Neither use of “hand” is natural to the English idiom.

²⁹ tc This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew mss. The majority of the Hebrew mss read “and you will burn down this city.” This reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and English versions. Few of the commentaries, however, bother to explain the fact that the particle אֶת (’et), which normally marks the accusative object, is functioning here as the subject. For this point of grammar see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 1.b. Or this may be another case where אֵת introduces a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α and see usage in 27:8; 36:22).

²⁹ tc The translation here follows the reading of the Greek version. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; some understand it to mean “because of Gedaliah [i.e., to cover up the affair with Gedaliah]” and others understand it to mean “alongside of Gedaliah.” The translation presupposes that the Hebrew text reads בּוֹר גָּדוֹל הוּא (bor gadol hu’) in place of בְּיַד־גְּדַלְיָהוּ הוּא (bÿyad-gÿdalyahu). The meaning of בְּיַד (bÿyad) does not fit any of the normal ones given for this expression and those who retain the Hebrew text normally explain it as an unparalleled use of “because” or “in the affair of” (so NJPS) or a rare use meaning “near, by the side of “ (see BDB 391 s.v. יָד 5.d where only Ps 141:6 and Zech 4:12 are cited. BDB themselves suggest reading with the Greek version as the present translation does [so BDB 391 s.v. יָד 5.c(3)]). For the syntax presupposed by the Greek text which has been followed consult IBHS 298 §16.3.3d and 133 §8.4.2b. The first clause is a classifying clause with normal order of subject-predicate-copulative pronoun and it is followed by a further qualifying relative clause.

³⁰ sn It is generally agreed that the cistern referred to here is one of several that Asa dug for supplying water as part of the defense system constructed at Mizpah (cf. 1 Kgs 15:22; 2 Chr 16:6).

³¹ tn Or “with corpses”; Heb “with the slain.”