Jeremiah 37:15

37:15 The officials were very angry ¹  at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners. ² 

Jeremiah 37:20

37:20 But now please listen, your royal Majesty, ³  and grant my plea for mercy. ⁴  Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 42:2

42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request ⁶  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ⁷  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ⁸ 

Esther 4:8

4:8 He also gave him a written copy of the law that had been disseminated ⁹  in Susa for their destruction so that he could show it to Esther and talk to her about it. He also gave instructions that she should go to the king to implore him and petition him on behalf of her people.

¹ sn The officials mentioned here are not the same as those mentioned in Jer 36:12, most of whom were favorably disposed toward Jeremiah, or at least regarded what he said with enough trepidation to try to protect Jeremiah and preserve the scroll containing his messages (36:16, 19, 24). All those officials had been taken into exile with Jeconiah in 597 b.c. (2 Kgs 24:14).

² tn Heb “for they had made it into the house of confinement.” The causal particle does not fit the English sentence very well and “house of confinement” needs some explanation. Some translate this word “prison” but that creates redundancy with the earlier word translated “prison” (בֵּית הָאֵסוּר, bet ha’esur, “house of the band/binding”] which is more closely related to the concept of prison [cf. אָסִיר, ’asir, “prisoner”]). It is clear from the next verse that Jeremiah was confined in a cell in the dungeon of this place.

³ tn Heb “My lord, the king.”

⁴ tn Heb “let my plea for mercy fall before you.” I.e., let it come before you and be favorably received (= granted; by metonymical extension).

⁵ tn Or “So that I will not die there,” or “or I will die there”; Heb “and I will not die there.” The particle that introduces this clause (וְלֹא) regularly introduces negative purpose clauses after the volitive sequence (אַל [’al] + jussive here) according to GKC 323 §109.g. However, purpose and result clauses in Hebrew (and Greek) are often indistinguishable. Here the clause is more in the nature of a negative result.

⁶ tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.

⁷ tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”

⁸ tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.

⁹ tn Heb “given” (so KJV); NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “issued”; NIV “published”; NAB “promulgated.”