Jeremiah 29:2

29:2 He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, ¹  the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem. ² 

Jeremiah 34:19

34:19 I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, ³  the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 34:2

34:2 The Lord God of Israel told Jeremiah ⁵  to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah ⁶  to tell him, “The Lord says, ‘I am going to ⁷  hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.

Jeremiah 24:1

Good Figs and Bad Figs

24:1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon. ⁸ 

¹ tn This term is often mistakenly understood to refer to a “eunuch.” It is clear, however, in Gen 39:1 that “eunuchs” could be married. On the other hand it is clear from Isa 59:3-5 that some who bore this title could not have children. In this period, it is possible that the persons who bore this title were high officials like the rab saris who was a high official in the Babylonian court (cf. Jer 39:3, 13; 52:25). For further references see HALOT 727 s.v. סָרִיס 1.c.

² sn See 2 Kgs 24:14-16 and compare the study note on Jer 24:1.

³ tn For the rendering of this term see the translator’s note on 29:2.

⁴ tn This verse is not actually a sentence in the Hebrew original but is a prepositioned object to the verb in v. 20, “I will hand them over.” This construction is called casus pendens in the older grammars and is used to call attention to a subject or object (cf. GKC 458 §143.d and compare the usage in 33:24). The same nondescript “I will punish” which was used to resolve the complex sentence in the previous verse has been chosen to introduce the objects here before the more specific “I will hand them over” in the next verse.

⁵ tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “told him”; the referent (Jeremiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ 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.

⁸ sn See 2 Kgs 24:10-17 (especially vv. 14-16). Nebuchadnezzar left behind the poorest people of the land under the puppet king Zedekiah. Jeconiah has already been referred to earlier in 13:18; 22:25-26. The deportation referred to here occurred in 597 b.c. and included the priest Ezekiel.