2 Kings 22:16-17

22:16 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read. ¹  22:17 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ²  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ³  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

2 Kings 22:2

22:2 He did what the Lord approved ⁴  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ⁵  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. ⁶ 

Isaiah 6:11

6:11 I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said,

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,

and houses are uninhabited,

and the land is ruined and devastated,

Jeremiah 6:8-9

6:8 So ⁷  take warning, Jerusalem,

or I will abandon you in disgust ⁸ 

and make you desolate,

a place where no one can live.”

6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all ⁹  said to me: ¹⁰ 

“Those who remain in Israel will be

like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ¹¹  from a vine.

So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester

passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ¹² 

Jeremiah 24:8-10

24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ¹³  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁴  24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹⁵  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ¹⁶  24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease ¹⁷  on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’” ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 34:22

34:22 For I, the Lord, affirm that ¹⁹  I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.”’”

Jeremiah 36:29

36:29 Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked ²⁰  Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’” ²¹ 

Ezekiel 33:27-29

33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ²²  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease. 33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ²³ 

Micah 7:13

7:13 The earth will become desolate ²⁴ 

because of what its inhabitants have done. ²⁵ 

[22:16]  ¹ tn Heb “all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read.”

[22:17]  ² tn Or “burned incense.”

[22:17]  ³ tn Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The translation assumes that this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods,” as well as 19:18). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”

[22:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[22:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

[1:1]  ⁶ sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

[6:8]  ⁷ tn This word is not in the text but is supplied in the translation. Jeremiah uses a figure of speech (enallage) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to address him/her directly.

[6:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “lest my soul [= I] becomes disgusted with you.”

[6:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:9]  ¹⁰ tn The words “to me” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They will thoroughly glean those who are left in Israel like a vine.” That is, they will be carried off by judgment. It is not necessary to read the verb forms here as two imperatives or an infinitive absolute followed by an imperative as some English versions and commentaries do. This is an example of a third plural verb used impersonally and translated as a passive (cf. GKC 460 §144.g).

[6:9]  ¹² tn Heb “Pass your hand back over the branches like a grape harvester.” The translation is intended to clarify the metaphor that Jeremiah should try to rescue some from the coming destruction.

[24:8]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad] surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem which remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6;Gen 42:30.

[24:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “an object of reproach in peoples’ proverbs…an object of ridicule in people’s curses.” The alternate translation treats the two pairs which are introduced without vavs (ו) but are joined by vavs as examples of hendiadys. This is very possible here but the chain does not contain this pairing in 25:18; 29:18.

[24:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will make them for a terror for disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and a curse in all the places which I banish them there.” The complex Hebrew sentence has been broken down into equivalent shorter sentences to conform more with contemporary English style.

[24:10]  ¹⁷ sn See Jer 14:12 and the study note there.

[24:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fathers.”

[34:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[36:29]  ²⁰ tn Or “In essence you asked.” For explanation see the translator’s note on the end of the verse.

[36:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “You burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why did you write on it, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come [the infinitive absolute before the finite verb expresses certainty here as several places elsewhere in Jeremiah] and destroy this land and exterminate from it both man and beast.”’” The sentence raises several difficulties for translating literally. I.e., the “you” in “why did you write” is undefined, though it obviously refers to Jeremiah. The gerund “saying” that introduces ‘Why did you write’ does not fit very well with “you burned the scroll.” Gerunds of this sort are normally explanatory. Lastly, there is no indication in the narrative that Jehoiakim ever directly asked Jeremiah this question. In fact, he had been hidden out of sight so Jehoiakim couldn’t confront him. The question is presented rhetorically, expressing Jehoiakim’s thoughts or intents and giving the rational for burning the scroll, i.e., he questioned Jeremiah’s right to say such things. The translation has attempted to be as literal as possible without resolving some of these difficulties. One level of embedded quotes has been eliminated for greater simplicity. For the rendering of “How dare you” for the interrogative “why do you” see the translator’s note on 26:9.

[33:27]  ²² tn Heb “fall.”

[33:29]  ²³ sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.

[7:13]  ²⁴ tn Or “will be ruined.”

[7:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”