2 Chronicles 33:11-13

33:11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, ¹  bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 33:12 In his pain ²  Manasseh ³  asked the Lord his God for mercy ⁴  and truly ⁵  humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. ⁶  33:13 When he prayed to the Lord, ⁷  the Lord ⁸  responded to him ⁹  and answered favorably ¹⁰  his cry for mercy. The Lord ¹¹  brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God.

Jeremiah 51:32-34

51:32 They will report that the fords have been captured,

the reed marshes have been burned,

the soldiers are terrified. ¹² 

51:33 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says,

‘Fair Babylon ¹³  will be like a threshing floor

which has been trampled flat for harvest.

The time for her to be cut down and harvested

will come very soon.’ ¹⁴ 

51:34 “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon

devoured me and drove my people out.

Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me.

He filled his belly with my riches.

He made me an empty dish.

He completely cleaned me out.” ¹⁵ 

Acts 12:6-11

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ¹⁶  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ¹⁷  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ¹⁸  over the prison. 12:7 Suddenly ¹⁹  an angel of the Lord ²⁰  appeared, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck ²¹  Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off Peter’s ²²  wrists. ²³  12:8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt ²⁴  and put on your sandals.” Peter ²⁵  did so. Then the angel ²⁶  said to him, “Put on your cloak ²⁷  and follow me.” 12:9 Peter ²⁸  went out ²⁹  and followed him; ³⁰  he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real, ³¹  but thought he was seeing a vision. 12:10 After they had passed the first and second guards, ³²  they came to the iron ³³  gate leading into the city. It ³⁴  opened for them by itself, ³⁵  and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, ³⁶  when at once the angel left him. 12:11 When ³⁷  Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued ³⁸  me from the hand ³⁹  of Herod ⁴⁰  and from everything the Jewish people ⁴¹  were expecting to happen.”

[33:11]  ¹ tn Heb “and they seized him with hooks.”

[33:12]  ² tn Or “distress.”

[33:12]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord his God.”

[33:12]  ⁵ tn Or “greatly.”

[33:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers.”

[33:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “was entreated by him,” or “allowed himself to be entreated by him.”

[33:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “heard.”

[33:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[51:32]  ¹² tn The words “They will report that” have been supplied in the translation to show the linkage between this verse and the previous one. This is still a part of the report of the messengers. The meaning of the word translated “reed marshes” has seemed inappropriate to some commentators because it elsewhere refers to “pools.” However, all the commentaries consulted agree that the word here refers to the reedy marshes that surrounded Babylon. (For a fuller discussion regarding the meaning of this word and attempts to connect it with a word meaning “fortress” see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:427.)

[51:33]  ¹³ sn Heb “Daughter Babylon.” See the study note at 50:42 for explanation.

[51:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Daughter Babylon will be [or is; there is no verb and the tense has to be supplied from the context] like a threshing floor at the time one tramples it. Yet a little while and the time of the harvest will come for her.” It is generally agreed that there are two figures here: one of leveling the threshing floor and stamping it into a smooth, hard surface and the other of the harvest where the grain is cut, taken to the threshing floor, and threshed by trampling the sheaves of grain to loosen the grain from the straw, and finally winnowed by throwing the mixture into the air (cf., e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 760). The translation has sought to convey those ideas as clearly as possible without digressing too far from the literal.

[51:34]  ¹⁵ tn This verse is extremely difficult to translate because of the shifting imagery, the confusion over the meaning of one of the verbs, and the apparent inconsistency of the pronominal suffixes here with those in the following verse which everyone agrees is connected with it. The pronominal suffixes are first common plural but the versions all read them as first common singular which the Masoretes also do in the Qere. That reading has been followed here for consistency with the next verse which identifies the speaker as the person living in Zion and the personified city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew text reads: “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon devoured me [cf. 50:7, 17] and threw me into confusion. He set me down an empty dish. He swallowed me like a monster from the deep [cf. BDB 1072 s.v. תַּנִּין 3 and compare usage in Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; 32:2]. He filled his belly with my dainties. He rinsed me out [cf. BDB s.v. דּוּח Hiph.2 and compare the usage in Isa 4:4].” The verb “throw into confusion” has proved troublesome because its normal meaning does not seem appropriate. Hence various proposals have been made to understand it in a different sense. The present translation has followed W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 2:428) in understanding the verb to mean “disperse” or “route” (see NAB). The last line has seemed out of place and has often been emended to read “he has spewed me out” (so NIV, NRSV, a reading that presupposes הִדִּיחָנִי [hiddikhani] for הֱדִיחָנִי [hedikhani]). The reading of the MT is not inappropriate if it is combined with the imagery of an empty jar and hence is retained here (see F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 425, n. 59; H. Freedman, Jeremiah [SoBB], 344; NJPS). The lines have been combined to keep the imagery together.

[12:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ¹⁸ tn Or “were guarding.”

[12:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And behold.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The interjection ἰδού (idou), often difficult to translate into English, expresses the suddenness of the angel’s appearance.

[12:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

[12:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “striking the side of Peter, he awoke him saying.” The term refers to a push or a light tap (BDAG 786 s.v. πατάσσω 1.a). The participle πατάξας (pataxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[12:7]  ²² tn Grk “his”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:7]  ²³ tn Grk “the hands,” but the wrist was considered a part of the hand.

[12:8]  ²⁴ tn While ζώννυμι (zwnnumi) sometimes means “to dress,” referring to the fastening of the belt or sash as the final act of getting dressed, in this context it probably does mean “put on your belt” since in the conditions of a prison Peter had probably not changed into a different set of clothes to sleep. More likely he had merely removed his belt or sash, which the angel now told him to replace. The translation “put on your belt” is given by L&N 49.14 for this verse. The archaic English “girdle” for the sash or belt has an entirely different meaning today.

[12:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:8]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “outer garment.”

[12:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And going out he followed.”

[12:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Peter going out followed him.” The participle ἐξελθών (exelqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[12:9]  ³⁰ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[12:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “what was done through the angel was a reality” (see BDAG 43 s.v. ἀληθής 3).

[12:10]  ³² tn Or perhaps, “guard posts.”

[12:10]  ³³ sn The iron gate shows how important security was here. This door was more secure than one made of wood (which would be usual).

[12:10]  ³⁴ tn Grk “which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the pronoun “it,” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[12:10]  ³⁵ tn The Greek term here, αὐτομάτη (automath), indicates something that happens without visible cause (BDAG 152 s.v. αὐτόματος).

[12:10]  ³⁶ tn Or “lane,” “alley” (BDAG 907 s.v. ῥύμη).

[12:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[12:11]  ³⁸ tn Or “delivered.”

[12:11]  ³⁹ sn Here the hand of Herod is a metaphor for Herod’s power or control.

[12:11]  ⁴⁰ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

[12:11]  ⁴¹ sn Luke characterizes the opposition here as the Jewish people, including their leadership (see 12:3).