Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ¹  delivered ²  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ³  along with some of the vessels ⁴  of the temple of God. ⁵  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ⁶  to the temple of his god ⁷  and put ⁸  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ⁹  delivered ¹⁰  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ¹¹  along with some of the vessels ¹²  of the temple of God. ¹³  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ¹⁴  to the temple of his god ¹⁵  and put ¹⁶  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel 1:13

1:13 Then compare our appearance ¹⁷  with that of ¹⁸  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ¹⁹  deal with us ²⁰  in light of what you see.”

Daniel 1:15

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ²¹  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

Daniel 1:2

1:2 Now the Lord ²²  delivered ²³  King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, ²⁴  along with some of the vessels ²⁵  of the temple of God. ²⁶  He brought them to the land of Babylonia ²⁷  to the temple of his god ²⁸  and put ²⁹  the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel 1:10

1:10 But he ³⁰  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ³¹  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ³²  If that happened, ³³  you would endanger my life ³⁴  with the king!”

Daniel 1:18

1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, ³⁵  the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence.

Ezra 1:7-11

1:7 Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the Lord’s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed ³⁶  in the temple of his gods. 1:8 King Cyrus of Persia entrusted ³⁷  them to ³⁸  Mithredath ³⁹  the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar ⁴⁰  the leader of the Judahite exiles. ⁴¹ 

1:9 The inventory ⁴²  of these items was as follows:

30 gold basins, ⁴³ 

1,000 silver basins,

29 silver utensils, ⁴⁴ 

1:10 30 gold bowls,

410 other ⁴⁵  silver bowls,

and 1,000 other vessels.

1:11 All these gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. ⁴⁶  Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 27:16-22

27:16 I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ⁴⁷  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ⁴⁸  But they are prophesying a lie to you. 27:17 Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you ⁴⁹  will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?’” ⁵⁰  27:18 I also told them, ⁵¹  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ⁵²  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ⁵³  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁵⁴  to Babylon. 27:19 For the Lord who rules over all ⁵⁵  has already spoken about the two bronze pillars, ⁵⁶  the large bronze basin called ‘The Sea,’ ⁵⁷  and the movable bronze stands. ⁵⁸  He has already spoken about the rest of the valuable articles that are left in this city. 27:20 He has already spoken about these things that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away as captives. ⁵⁹  27:21 Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶⁰  has already spoken ⁶¹  about the valuable articles that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 27:22 He has said, ‘They will be carried off to Babylon. They will remain there until it is time for me to show consideration for them again. ⁶²  Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’ I, the Lord, affirm this!” ⁶³ 

Jeremiah 52:19

52:19 The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, ⁶⁴  basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels. ⁶⁵ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ⁶ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ⁷ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

[1:2]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ¹² tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ¹⁴ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the appearance of.”

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your servants.”

[1:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “fat of flesh”; KJV, ASV “fatter in flesh”; NASB, NRSV “fatter” (although this is no longer a sign of health in Western culture).

[1:2]  ²² tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[1:2]  ²³ tn Heb “gave.”

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “house of God.”

[1:2]  ²⁷ sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.

[1:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

[1:10]  ³² tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.

[1:10]  ³³ tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.

[1:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[1:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he gave them.”

[1:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “brought them forth.”

[1:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

[1:8]  ³⁹ sn A Persian name meaning “gift of Mithras.” See HALOT 656 s.v. מִתְרְדָת.

[1:8]  ⁴⁰ sn A Babylonian name with the probable meaning “Shamash protect the father.” See HALOT 1664-65 s.v. שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר.

[1:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Sheshbazzar the prince to Judah”; TEV, CEV “the governor of Judah.”

[1:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “these are their number.”

[1:9]  ⁴³ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew noun אֲגַרְטָל (’agartal, which occurs twice in this verse) is somewhat uncertain. The lexicons suggest that it is related to a common Semitic root (the Hebrew derivative has a prosthetic prefixed א [aleph] and interchange between ג [gimel] and ק [kof]): Judean Aramaic and Syriac qartalla, Arabic qirtallat, Ethiopic qartalo, all meaning “basket” (BDB 173-74 s.v.; HALOT 11 s.v.). There is debate whether this is a loanword from Greek κάρταλλος (kartallo", “basket”), Persian hirtal (“leather bag”) or Hittite kurtal (“container”). The term is traditionally understood as a kind of vessel, such as “basket, basin” (BDB 173-74 s.v.; HALOT 11 s.v.); but some suggest “leather bag” or a basket-shaped container of some sort (P. Humbert, “En marge du dictionnaire hébraïque,” ZAW 62 [1950]: 199-207; DCH 1:118 s.v.). The LXX translated it as ψυκτήρ (yukthr, “metal bowl”). The precise meaning depends on whether the nouns כֶּסֶף (kesef, “silver”) and זָהָב (zahav, “gold”), which follow each use of this plural construct noun, are genitives of content (“containers full of silver” and “containers full of gold”) or genitives of material (“silver containers” and “gold containers” = containers made from silver and gold). If they are genitives of content, the term probably means “baskets” or “leather bags” (filled with silver and gold); however, if they are genitives of material, the term would mean “basins” (made of silver and gold). Elsewhere in Ezra 1, the nouns כֶּסֶף (“silver”) and זָהָב (“gold”) are used as genitives or material, not genitives of contents; therefore, the translation “gold basins” and “silver basins” is preferred.

[1:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “knives.” The Hebrew noun מַחֲלָפִים (makhalafim, “knives”) is found only here in the OT. While the basic meaning of the term is fairly clear, what it refers to here is unclear. The verb II חָלַף (khalaf) means “to pass through” (BDB 322 s.v. חָלַף) or “to cut through” (HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף; see also Judg 5:26; Job 20:24); thus, the lexicons suggest מַחֲלָפִים means “knives” (BDB 322 s.v. מַחֲלָף; HALOT 569 s.v. *מַחֲלָף). The related noun חֲלָפוֹת (khalafot, “knife”) is used in Mishnaic Hebrew (HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף), and חֲלִיפוֹת (khalifot, “knives”) appears in the Talmud. The noun appears in the cognate languages: Ugaritic khlpnm (“knives”; UT 19) and Syriac khalofta (“shearing knife”; HALOT 321 s.v. II חלף). The Vulgate translated it as “knives,” while the LXX understood it as referring to replacement pieces for the offering basins. The English translations render it variously; some following the Vulgate and others adopting the approach of the LXX: “knives” (KJV, NKJV, NRSV), “censers” (RSV), “duplicates” (NASV), “silver pans” (NIV), “bowls” (TEV), “other dishes” (CEV). Verse 11 lists these twenty-nine objects among the “gold and silver vessels” brought back to Jerusalem for temple worship. The translation above offers the intentionally ambiguous “silver utensils” (the term מַחֲלָפִים [“knives”] would hardly refer to “gold” items, but could refer to “silver items”).

[1:10]  ⁴⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מִשְׁנִים (mishnim) is uncertain. The noun מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh) means “double, second” (BDB 1041 s.v.), “what is doubled, two-fold” (HALOT 650 s.v. מִשְׁנֶה 3). The translations reflect a diversity of approaches: “410 silver bowls of a second kind” (KJV, NASV, RSV margin), “410 other silver bowls” (NRSV) and “410 matching silver bowls” (NIV). BDB 1041 s.v. משׁנה 3.a suggests it was originally a numeral that was garbled in the transmission process, as reflected in the LXX: “two thousand” (so RSV: “two thousand four hundred and ten bowls of silver”). The BHS editor suggests revocalizing the term to מְשֻׁנִים (mÿshunim, “changed”).

[1:11]  ⁴⁶ sn The total number as given in the MT does not match the numbers given for the various items in v. 9. It is not clear whether the difference is due to error in textual transmission or whether the constituent items mentioned are only a selection from a longer list, in which case the total from that longer list may have been retained. The numbers provided in 1 Esdras come much closer to agreeing with the number in Ezra 1:9-11, but this does not necessarily mean that 1 Esdras has been better preserved here than Ezra. 1 Esdras 2:13-15 (RSV) says, “The number of these was: a thousand gold cups, a thousand silver cups, twenty-nine silver censures, thirty gold bowls, two thousand four hundred and ten silver bowls, and a thousand other vessels. All the vessels were handed over, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, and they were carried back by Shesbazzar with the returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem.”

[27:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you….” The sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style and one level of embedded quotes has been eliminated to ease complexity.

[27:16]  ⁴⁸ sn This refers to the valuable articles of the temple treasury which were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar four years earlier when he carried off Jeconiah, his family, some of his nobles, and some of the cream of Judean society (2 Kgs 24:10-16, especially v. 13 and see also vv. 19-20 in the verses following).

[27:17]  ⁴⁹ tn The imperative with vav (ו) here and in v. 12 after another imperative are a good example of the use of the imperative to introduce a consequence. (See GKC 324-25 §110.f and see Gen 42:18. This is a common verb in this idiom.)

[27:17]  ⁵⁰ tn According to E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 954) both this question and the one in v. 13 are examples of rhetorical questions of prohibition / “don’t let this city be made a pile of rubble.”

[27:18]  ⁵¹ tn The words “I also told them” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the fact that the Lord is spoken about in the third person in vv. 18, 19, 21 that he is not the speaker. This is part of Jeremiah’s own speech to the priests and the people (v. 16). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ⁵² tn Heb “the word of the Lord is with them.”

[27:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[27:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “…speaking to them, let them entreat the Lord…so that the valuable articles…will not go to Babylon.” The long original sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style.

[27:19]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:19]  ⁵⁶ tn The words “two bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.

[27:19]  ⁵⁷ tn The words “the large bronze basin called” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent.

[27:19]  ⁵⁸ tn The words “movable bronze” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to help identify the referent. See the study note for further reference.

[27:20]  ⁵⁹ tn 27:19-20 are all one long sentence in Hebrew. It has been broken up for the sake of English style. Some of the sentences still violate contemporary English style (e.g., v. 20) but breaking them down any further would lose the focus. For further discussion see the study note on v. 21.

[27:21]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.

[27:21]  ⁶¹ sn Some of the flavor of the repetitive nature of Hebrew narrative is apparent in vv. 19-21. In the Hebrew original vv. 19-20 are all one long sentence with complex coordination and subordinations. I.e., all the objects in v. 19 are all objects of the one verb “has spoken about” and the description in v. 20 is one long relative or descriptive clause. The introductory “For the Lord…has already spoken” is repeated in v. 21 from v. 19 and reference is made to the same articles once again, only in the terms that were used in v. 18b. By this means, attention is focused for these people (here the priests and the people) on articles which were of personal concern for them and the climax or the punch line is delayed to the end. The point being made is that the false prophets are mistaken; not only will the articles taken to Babylon not be returned “very soon” but the Lord had said that the ones that remained would be taken there as well. They ought rather pray that the Lord will change his mind and not carry them off as well.

[27:22]  ⁶² tn This verb is a little difficult to render here. The word is used in the sense of taking note of something and acting according to what is noticed. It is the word that has been translated several times throughout Jeremiah as “punish [someone].” It is also used in the opposite of sense of taking note and “show consideration for” (or “care for;” see, e.g., Ruth 1:6). Here the nuance is positive and is further clarified by the actions that follow, bringing them back and restoring them.

[27:22]  ⁶³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[52:19]  ⁶⁴ sn The censers held the embers used for the incense offerings.

[52:19]  ⁶⁵ sn These vessels were used for drink offerings.