Jeremiah 32:3

32:3 For King Zedekiah ¹  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. ² 

Jeremiah 32:24

32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ³  in order to capture it. War, ⁴  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ⁵  who are attacking it. ⁶  Lord, ⁷  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 32:28

32:28 Therefore I, the Lord, say: ⁹  ‘I will indeed hand ¹⁰  this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. ¹¹  They will capture it.

¹ tn Heb “Zedekiah king of Judah.”

² 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.’”’”

³ tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

⁴ tn Heb “sword.”

⁵ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

⁶ 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).

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”

⁹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the speech has already been introduced as first person. So the first person style has been retained for smoother narrative style.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of…”

¹¹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.