20:1 Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security 1 in the Lord’s temple. 20:2 When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. 2 Then he put him in the stocks 3 which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the Lord’s temple. 4
The following events occurred when Jerusalem 11 was captured. 12
16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, 16 they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’
18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 17
1:1 From Paul, 26 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn Heb “chief overseer/officer.” The translation follows the suggestion of P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 267, based on the parallel passage in 29:26-27 where this official appears to have been in charge of maintaining order in the temple.
2 tn Heb “And Pashhur son of Immer, the priest and he [= who] was chief overseer [or officer] in the house of the
3 tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. It occurs only here, in 29:26 where it is followed by a parallel word that occurs only there and is generally translated “collar,” and in 2 Chr 16:10 where it is preceded by the word “house of.” It is most often translated “stocks” and explained as an instrument of confinement for keeping prisoners in a crooked position (from its relation to a root meaning “to turn.” See BDB 246 s.v. מַהְפֶּכֶת and KBL 500 s.v. מַהְפֶּכֶת for definition and discussion.) For a full discussion including the interpretation of the ancient versions see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:542-43.
4 sn A comparison of Ezek 8:3 and 9:2 in their contexts will show that this probably refers to the northern gate to the inner court of the temple. It is called Upper because it was on higher ground above the gate in the outer court. It is qualified by “in the
5 tn Heb “they.”
6 sn A cistern was a pear-shaped pit with a narrow opening. Cisterns were cut or dug in the limestone rock and lined with plaster to prevent seepage. They were used to collect and store rain water or water carried up from a spring.
7 tn Heb “the son of the king.” See the translator’s note on Jer 36:26 for the rendering here.
8 tn Heb “And they let Jeremiah down with ropes and in the cistern there was no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.” The clauses have been reordered and restructured to create a more natural and smoother order in English.
9 tn Heb “And Jeremiah stayed/remained in the courtyard of the guardhouse…” The translation once again intends to reflect the situation. Jeremiah had a secret meeting with the king at the third entrance to the temple (v. 14). He was returned to the courtyard of the guardhouse (cf. v. 13) after the conversation with the king where the officials came to question him (v. 27). He was not sent back to the dungeon in Jonathan’s house as he feared, but was left confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
10 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tc The precise meaning of this line and its relation to the context are somewhat uncertain. This line is missing from the Greek and Syriac versions and from a few Hebrew
13 tn Heb “by sword, by starvation, or by disease.”
14 tn Heb “those who go out to the Chaldeans.” For the rendering “Babylonians” for “Chaldeans” see the study note on 21:4.
15 tn Heb “his life will be to him for spoil and he will live.” For the meaning of this idiom see the study note on 21:9. The words and “he will live” have been left out of the translation because they are redundant after “will live” and “they will escape with their lives.”
16 tn Heb “all these words/things.”
17 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
18 tn Grk “jealousy, and they.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but a new sentence has been started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn Or “they arrested.”
20 tn Or “prison.”
21 tn L&N 6.21 has “stocks” for εἰς τὸ ξύλον (ei" to xulon) here, as does BDAG 685 s.v. ξύλον 2.b. However, it is also possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied. Such a possibility is suggested by v. 26, where the “bonds” (“chains”?) of the prisoners loosened.
22 sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.
23 sn Iconium was a city in Lycaonia about 110 mi (175 km) east of Pisidian Antioch.
24 tn For this sense of μαρτυρέω (marturew), see BDAG 618 s.v. 2.b.
25 tn Grk “who was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who was a believer…who was well spoken of”) and the awkwardness of the passive verb (“was well spoken of”), the relative pronoun at the beginning of 16:2 (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“him”) and the construction converted from passive to active at the same time a new sentence was started in the translation.
26 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
27 tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.
28 tn Or “tempted.”
29 tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).
30 tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”