Jeremiah 13:13-14

13:13 Then ¹  tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. ²  I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, ³  the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. ⁴  13:14 And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ⁵  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ⁶  says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 14:14-16

14:14 Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! ⁷  I did not send them. I did not commission them. ⁸  I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, ⁹  and the delusions of their own mind. 14:15 I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about ¹⁰  them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ ¹¹  14:16 The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹²  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ¹³  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 29:25-29

29:25 that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁵  has a message for him. ¹⁶  Tell him, ¹⁷  ‘On your own initiative ¹⁸  you sent a letter ¹⁹  to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah ²⁰  and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem. ²¹  In your letter you said to Zephaniah, ²²  29:26 “The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. ²³  He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling ²⁴  any lunatic ²⁵  who pretends to be a prophet. ²⁶  And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks ²⁷  with an iron collar around his neck. ²⁸  29:27 You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you! ²⁹  29:28 For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, ³⁰  “You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”’” ³¹ 

29:29 Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah. ³² 

Leviticus 10:11

10:11 and to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through ³³  Moses.”

Leviticus 10:1

Nadab and Abihu

10:1 Then ³⁴  Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense on it, and presented strange fire ³⁵  before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do.

Leviticus 22:24

22:24 You must not present to the Lord something with testicles that are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut off; ³⁶  you must not do this in your land.

Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ³⁷  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Luke 11:45

11:45 One of the experts in religious law ³⁸  answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult ³⁹  us too.”

John 7:47-49

7:47 Then the Pharisees answered, ⁴⁰  “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? ⁴¹  7:48 None of the rulers ⁴²  or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? ⁴³  7:49 But this rabble ⁴⁴  who do not know the law are accursed!”

John 9:40

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ⁴⁵  who were with him heard this ⁴⁶  and asked him, ⁴⁷  “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁴⁸ 

[13:13]  ¹ tn The Greek version is likely right in interpreting the construction of two perfects preceded by the conjunction as contingent or consequential here, i.e., “and when they say…then say.” See GKC 494 §159.g. However, to render literally would create a long sentence. Hence, the words “will probably” have been supplied in v. 12 in the translation to set up the contingency/consequential sequence in the English sentences.

[13:13]  ² sn It is probably impossible to convey in a simple translation all the subtle nuances that are wrapped up in the words of this judgment speech. The word translated “stupor” here is literally “drunkenness” but the word has in the context an undoubted intended double reference. It refers first to the drunken like stupor of confusion on the part of leaders and citizens of the land which will cause them to clash with one another. But it also probably refers to the reeling under God’s wrath that results from this (cf. Jer 25:15-29, especially vv. 15-16). Moreover there is still the subtle little play on wine jars. The people are like the wine jars which were supposed to be filled with wine. They were to be a special people to bring glory to God but they had become corrupt. Hence, like wine jars they would be smashed against one another and broken to pieces (v. 14). All of this, both “fill them with the stupor of confusion” and “make them reel under God’s wrath,” cannot be conveyed in one translation.

[13:13]  ³ tn Heb “who sit on David’s throne.”

[13:13]  ⁴ tn In Hebrew this is all one long sentence with one verb governing compound objects. It is broken up here in conformity with English style.

[13:14]  ⁵ tn Or “children along with their parents”; Heb “fathers and children together.”

[13:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will not show…so as not to destroy them.”

[14:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “Falsehood those prophets are prophesying in my name.” In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in someone’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8).

[14:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “I did not command them.” Compare 1 Chr 22:12 for usage.

[14:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “divination and worthlessness.” The noun “worthlessness” stands as a qualifying “of” phrase (= to an adjective; an attributive genitive in Hebrew) after a noun in Zech 11:17; Job 13:4. This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns are joined by “and” with one serving as the qualifier of the other.

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord about.” The first person construction has been used in the translation for better English style.

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in my name and I did not send them [= whom I did not send] and they are saying [= who are saying], ‘Sword and famine…’, by sword and famine those prophets will be killed.” This sentence has been restructured to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:16]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and there will not be anyone to bury them, they, their wives, and their sons and their daughters.” This sentence has been restructured to break up a long Hebrew sentence and to avoid some awkwardness due to differences in the ancient Hebrew and contemporary English styles.

[14:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their evil.” Hebrew words often include within them a polarity of cause and effect. Thus the word for “evil” includes both the concept of wickedness and the punishment for it. Other words that function this way are “iniquity” = “guilt [of iniquity]” = “punishment [for iniquity].” Context determines which nuance is proper.

[29:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[29:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ‘Thus says Yahweh of armies the God of Israel….” The indirect quotation is used in the translation to avoid the complexity of embedding a quotation within a quotation.

[29:25]  ¹⁷ sn Jer 29:24-32 are concerned with Jeremiah’s interaction with a false prophet named Shemaiah. The narrative in this section is not in strict chronological order and is somewhat elliptical. It begins with a report of a message that Jeremiah appears to have delivered directly to Shemaiah and refers to a letter that Shemaiah sent to the priest Zephaniah encouraging him to reprimand Jeremiah for what Shemaiah considered treasonous words in his letter to the exiles (vv. 24-28; compare v. 28 with v. 5). However, Jeremiah is in Jerusalem and Shemaiah is in Babylon. The address must then be part of a second letter Jeremiah sent to Babylon. Following this the narrative refers to Zephaniah reading Shemaiah’s letter to Jeremiah and Jeremiah sending a further letter to the captives in Babylon (vv. 29-32). This is probably not a third letter but part of the same letter in which Jeremiah reprimands Shemaiah for sending his letter to Zephaniah (vv. 25-28; the same letter referred to in v. 29). The order of events thus is: Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives counseling them to settle down in Babylon (vv. 1-23). Shemaiah sent a letter to Zephaniah asking him to reprimand Jeremiah (vv. 26-28). After Zephaniah read that letter to Jeremiah (v. 29), Jeremiah wrote a further letter to Babylon reprimanding him (vv. 25-28, 31) and pronouncing judgment on him (v. 32). The elliptical nature of the narrative is reflected in the fact that vv. 25-27 are part of a long causal sentence which sets forth an accusation but has no corresponding main clause or announcement of judgment. This kind of construction involves a rhetorical figure (called aposiopesis) where what is begun is not finished for various rhetorical reasons. Here the sentence that is broken off is part of an announcement of judgment which is not picked up until v. 32 after a further (though related) accusation (v. 31b).

[29:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “In your [own] name.” See the study note on 23:27 for the significance of this idiom.

[29:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “letters.” Though GKC 397 §124.b, n. 1 denies it, this is probably a case of the plural of extension. For a similar usage see Isa 37:14 where the plural “letters” is referred to later as an “it.” Even if there were other “letters,” the focus is on the letter to Zephaniah.

[29:25]  ²⁰ sn According to Jer 52:24 and 2 Kgs 25:18 Zephaniah son of Maaseiah was second in command to the high priest. He was the high ranking priest who was sent along with a civic official to inquire of the Lord’s will from Jeremiah by Zedekiah on two separate occasions (Jer 21:1; 37:3).

[29:25]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[29:25]  ²² tn The words “In your letter you said to Zephaniah” are not in the text: Heb “you sent a letter to…, saying.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style and these words have been supplied in the translation to make the transition to the address to Zephaniah in vv. 26-28.

[29:26]  ²³ tn Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.

[29:26]  ²⁴ tc Heb “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be overseer in the house of the Lord for/over.” The translation is based on a reading presupposed by several of the versions. The Hebrew text reads “The Lord has…to be overseers [in] the house of the Lord for/over.” The reading here follows that of the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions in reading פָּקִיד בְּבֵית (paqid bÿvet) in place of פְּקִדִים בֵּית (pÿqidim bet). There has been a confusion of the ם (mem) and בּ (bet) and a transposition of the י (yod) and ד (dalet).

[29:26]  ²⁵ sn The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7 and here).

[29:26]  ²⁶ tn The verb here is a good example of what IBHS 431 §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5; Prov 13:7.

[29:26]  ²⁷ tn See the translator’s note on 20:2 for this word which only occurs here and in 20:2-3.

[29:26]  ²⁸ tn This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed as seeing it referring to a collar placed around the neck. The basis for this definition are the cognate languages (see, e.g., HALOT 958-59 s.v. צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).

[29:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah…?” The rhetorical question functions as an emphatic assertion made explicit in the translation.

[29:28]  ³⁰ tn Heb “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying….” The quote, however, is part of the earlier letter.

[29:28]  ³¹ sn See v. 5.

[29:29]  ³² tn Heb “in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.”

[10:11]  ³³ tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).

[10:1]  ³⁴ tn Although it has been used elsewhere in this translation as an English variation from the ubiquitous use of vav in Hebrew, in this instance “then” as a rendering for vav is intended to show that the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe took place on the inauguration day described in Lev 9. The tragic incident in Lev 10 happened in close temporal connection to the Lord’s fire that consumed the offerings at the end of Lev 9. Thus, for example, the “sin offering” male goat referred to in Lev 10:16-19 is the very one referred to in Lev 9:15.

[10:1]  ³⁵ tn The expression “strange fire” (אֵשׁ זָרָה, ’esh zarah) seems imprecise (cf. NAB “profane fire”; NIV “unauthorized fire”; NRSV “unholy fire”; NLT “a different kind of fire”) and has been interpreted numerous ways (see the helpful summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 132-33). The infraction may have involved any of the following or a combination thereof: (1) using coals from someplace other than the burnt offering altar (i.e., “unauthorized coals” according to J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:598; cf. Lev 16:12 and cf. “unauthorized person” אִישׁ זָר (’ish zar) in Num 16:40 [17:5 HT], NASB “layman”), (2) using the wrong kind of incense (cf. the Exod 30:9 regulation against “strange incense” קְטֹרֶת זָרָה (qÿtoreh zarah) on the incense altar and the possible connection to Exod 30:34-38), (3) performing an incense offering at an unprescribed time (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 59), or (4) entering the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time (Lev 16:1-2).

[22:24]  ³⁶ sn Compare Lev 21:20b.

[2:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:45]  ³⁸ sn That is, an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law. They worked closely with the Pharisees.

[11:45]  ³⁹ tn For this term, see Matt 22;6; Luke 18:32; Acts 14:5; 1 Thess 2:2.

[7:47]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “answered them.”

[7:47]  ⁴¹ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have you?”).

[7:48]  ⁴² sn The chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:45) is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. Likewise the term ruler here denotes a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in John 3:1, and Nicodemus also speaks up in this episode (John 7:50).

[7:48]  ⁴³ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have they?”).

[7:49]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

[9:40]  ⁴⁵ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ⁴⁸ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are we?”).