2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors 1 lies desolate and its gates destroyed 2 by fire?”
6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. 5 All of this is a figment of your imagination.” 6
1:3 They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable 7 adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!” 8
1 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).
2 tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).
3 tn Heb “take.”
4 tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.
5 tn Heb “We are not according to these matters that you are saying.”
6 tn Heb “For from your heart you are inventing them.”
7 tn Heb “great.”
8 tn Heb “have been burned with fire” (so also in Neh 2:17). The expression “burned with fire” is redundant in contemporary English; the translation uses “burned down” for stylistic reasons.