2 Kings 7:7-16

7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 7:8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. ¹  They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. ²  Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it ³  and went and hid what they had taken. 7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone. ⁴  If we wait until dawn, ⁵  we’ll be punished. ⁶  So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers ⁷  of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. ⁸  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” ⁹  7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace. ¹⁰ 

7:12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, ¹¹  “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 7:13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!) ¹²  Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.” ¹³  7:14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army. ¹⁴  He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.” ¹⁵  7:15 So they tracked them ¹⁶  as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. ¹⁷  The scouts ¹⁸  went back and told the king. 7:16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah ¹⁹  of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 4:20

4:20 I see ²¹  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ²²  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ²³  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 30:16

30:16 But ²⁵  all who destroyed you will be destroyed.

All your enemies will go into exile.

Those who plundered you will be plundered.

I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. ²⁶ 

[7:8]  ¹ tn Heb “they ate and drank.”

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “and they hid [it].”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “and they took from there.”

[7:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”

[7:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the light of the morning.”

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “punishment will find us.”

[7:10]  ⁷ tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

[7:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).

[7:13]  ¹² tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”

[7:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”

[7:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Go and see.”

[7:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “went after.”

[7:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”

[7:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “messengers.”

[7:16]  ¹⁹ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

[7:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”

[4:20]  ²¹ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ²² tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ²³ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ²⁴ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.

[30:16]  ²⁵ tn For the translation of this particle, which is normally translated “therefore” and often introduces an announcement of judgment, compare the usage at Jer 16:14 and the translator’s note there. Here as there it introduces a contrast, a rather unexpected announcement of salvation. For a similar use see also Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT). Recognition of this usage makes the proposed emendation of BHS of לָכֵן כָּל (lakhen kol) to וְכָל (vÿkhol) unnecessary.

[30:16]  ²⁶ sn With the exception of the second line there is a definite attempt at wordplay in each line to underline the principle of lex talionis on a national and political level. This principle has already been appealed to in the case of the end of Babylonian sovereignty in 25:14; 27:7.