2 Chronicles 18:21-22

18:21 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord ¹  said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. ²  Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 18:22 So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

2 Chronicles 36:21

36:21 This took place to fulfill the Lord’s message delivered through Jeremiah. ³  The land experienced ⁴  its sabbatical years; ⁵  it remained desolate for seventy years, ⁶  as prophesied. ⁷ 

[18:21]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ² tn The Hebrew text has two imperfects connected by וְגַם (vÿgam). These verbs could be translated as specific futures, “you will deceive and also you will prevail,” in which case the Lord is assuring the spirit of success on his mission. However, in a commissioning context (note the following imperatives) such as this, it is more likely that the imperfects are injunctive, in which case one could translate, “Deceive, and also overpower.”

[36:21]  ³ tn Heb “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.”

[36:21]  ⁴ tn Or “accepted.”

[36:21]  ⁵ sn According to Lev 25:4, the land was to remain uncultivated every seventh year. Lev 26:33-35 warns that the land would experience a succession of such sabbatical rests if the people disobeyed God, for he would send them away into exile.

[36:21]  ⁶ sn Concerning the seventy years see Jer 25:11.

[36:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the days of the desolation it rested to fulfill the seventy years.”