2 Chronicles 36:13

36:13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance ¹  in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return ²  to the Lord God of Israel.

Jeremiah 27:12-15

27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, ³  “Submit ⁴  to the yoke of servitude to ⁵  the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live. 27:13 There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ⁶  or from starvation or disease! ⁷  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ⁸  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon. 27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve ⁹  the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you. 27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁰  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you ¹¹  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” ¹² 

Jeremiah 38:17-21

38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “The Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, ¹³  says, ‘You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon. If you do, your life will be spared ¹⁴  and this city will not be burned down. Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared. 38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians ¹⁵  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ¹⁶  38:19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. ¹⁷  The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.” ¹⁸  38:20 Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. ¹⁹  Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared. ²⁰  38:21 But if you refuse to surrender, the Lord has shown me a vision of what will happen. Here is what I saw:

Ezekiel 17:15-20

17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ²¹  rebelled against the king of Babylon ²²  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ²³  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ²⁴  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ²⁵  – he gave his promise ²⁶  and did all these things – he will not escape!

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ²⁷  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.

[36:13]  ¹ tn Or “made him swear an oath.”

[36:13]  ² tn Heb “and he stiffened his neck and strengthened his heart from returning.”

[27:12]  ³ tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”

[27:12]  ⁴ sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).

[27:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

[27:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “Why should you and your people die…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer made explicit in the translation, “There is no reason!”

[27:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “…disease according to what the Lord spoke concerning the nation that…”

[27:14]  ⁹ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.

[27:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:15]  ¹¹ sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.

[27:15]  ¹² tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”

[38:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh, the God of armies, the God of Israel.” Compare 7:3 and 35:17 and see the study note on 2:19.

[38:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Your life/soul will live.” The quote is a long condition-consequence sentence with compound consequential clauses. It reads, “If you will only go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, your soul [= you yourself; BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a] will live and this city will not be burned with fire and you and your household will live.” The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style. The infinitive absolute in the condition emphasizes the one condition, i.e., going out or surrendering (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.g, and compare usage in Exod 15:26). For the idiom “go out to” = “surrender to” see the full idiom in 21:9 “go out and fall over to” which is condensed in 38:2 to “go out to.” The expression here is the same as in 38:2.

[38:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”

[38:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and they will badly abuse me.” For the usage of this verb in the situation presupposed see Judg 19:25 and 1 Sam 31:4.

[38:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Please listen to the voice of the Lord with regard to what I have been telling you.” For the idiom “listen to the voice” = “obey” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע 1.m. Obedience here is expressed by following the advice in the qualifying clause, i.e., what I have been telling you.

[38:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your life [or you yourself] will live.” Compare v. 17 and the translator’s note there for the idiom.

[17:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ²² tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:16]  ²³ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[17:18]  ²⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.

[17:18]  ²⁶ sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).

[17:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “place it on his head.”