Jeremiah 21:7

21:7 Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’

Jeremiah 24:8

24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ³  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. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 29:16-18

29:16 But just listen to what the Lord has to say about ⁵  the king who occupies David’s throne and all your fellow countrymen who are still living in this city of Jerusalem ⁶  and were not carried off into exile with you. 29:17 The Lord who rules over all ⁷  says, ‘I will bring war, ⁸  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ⁹  they cannot be eaten. 29:18 I will chase after them with war, ¹⁰  starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.

Jeremiah 32:3-5

32:3 For King Zedekiah ¹¹  had confined Jeremiah there after he had reproved him for prophesying as he did. He had asked Jeremiah, “Why do you keep prophesying these things? Why do you keep saying that the Lord says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon? I will let him capture it. ¹²  32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ¹³  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ¹⁴  32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ¹⁵  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁶  Even if you ¹⁷  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ¹⁸  you cannot win.’”

Jeremiah 34:21-22

34:21 I will also hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the army of the king of Babylon, even though they have temporarily withdrawn from attacking you. ¹⁹  34:22 For I, the Lord, affirm that ²⁰  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 39:6-7

39:6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon also had all the nobles of Judah put to death. 39:7 Then he had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains ²¹  to be led off to Babylon.

Ezekiel 12:12-13

12:12 “The prince ²²  who is among them will raise his belongings ²³  onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He ²⁴  will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. 12:13 But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans ²⁵  (but he will not see it), ²⁶  and there he will die. ²⁷ 

Ezekiel 17:19-21

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ²⁸  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. 17:21 All the choice men ²⁹  among his troops will die ³⁰  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

Ezekiel 21:25-27

21:25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, ³¹ 

whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Tear off the turban, ³² 

take off the crown!

Things must change! ³³ 

Exalt the lowly,

bring down the proud! ³⁴ 

21:27 A total ruin I will make it! ³⁵ 

It will come to an end

when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ ³⁶ 

[21:7]  ¹ tn Heb “And afterward.”

[21:7]  ² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[24:8]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:8]  ⁴ 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.

[29:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “But thus says the Lord about.” The words “just listen to what” are supplied in the translation to help show the connection with the preceding.

[29:16]  ⁶ tn The words “of Jerusalem” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to identify the referent and avoid the possible confusion that “this city” refers to Babylon.

[29:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[29:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sword.”

[29:17]  ⁹ tn The meaning of this word is somewhat uncertain. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the noun “horrible thing” (translated “something shocking”) in Jer 5:30; 23:14 and defines it as “horrid, disgusting.” HALOT 1495 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the same noun and define it as “rotten; corrupt.” That nuance is accepted here.

[29:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the sword.”

[32:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Zedekiah king of Judah.”

[32:3]  ¹² tn The translation represents an attempt to break up a very long Hebrew sentence with several levels of subordination and embedded quotations and also an attempt to capture the rhetorical force of the question “Why…” which is probably an example of what E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 953-54) calls a rhetorical question of expostulation or remonstrance (cf. the note on 26:9 and compare also the question in 36:29. In all three of these cases NJPS translates “How dare you…” which captures the force nicely). The Hebrew text reads, “For Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him, saying, ‘Why are you prophesying, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold I am giving this city into the hands of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’”’”

[32:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his [Zedekiah’s] mouth will speak with his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] mouth and his eyes will see his eyes.” The verbs here are an obligatory imperfect and its vav consecutive perfect equivalent. (See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples of the former and IBHS 528 §32.2.1d, n. 16, for the latter.)

[32:5]  ¹⁵ tn This is the verb (פָּקַד, paqad) that has been met with several times in the book of Jeremiah, most often in the ominous sense of “punish” (e.g., 6:15; 11:22; 23:24) but also in the good sense of “resume concern for” (e.g., 27:22; 29:10). Here it is obviously in the ominous sense referring to his imprisonment and ultimate death (52:11).

[32:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:5]  ¹⁷ sn The pronouns are plural here, referring to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah had counseled that they surrender (cf. 27:12; 21:8-10) because they couldn’t succeed against the Babylonian army even under the most favorable circumstances (37:3-10).

[32:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[34:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone up from against them.” The last two “and into the hand” phrases are each giving further explication of “their enemies” (the conjunction is explicative [cf. BDB 252 s.v. וְ 1.b]). The sentence has been broken down into shorter English sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.

[34:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[39:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[12:12]  ²² sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.

[12:12]  ²³ tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.

[12:12]  ²⁴ tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”

[12:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).

[12:13]  ²⁶ sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.

[12:13]  ²⁷ sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).

[17:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “place it on his head.”

[17:21]  ²⁹ tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).

[17:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “fall.”

[21:25]  ³¹ tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.

[21:26]  ³² tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.

[21:26]  ³³ tn Heb “This not this.”

[21:26]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the high one.”

[21:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.

[21:27]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Also this, he was not, until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it.” The Hebrew text, as it stands, is grammatically difficult. The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“was not”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS). In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king’s turban/crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. The preposition translated “when” normally means “until,” but here it seems to refer to the period during which the preceding situation is realized, rather than its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. The second part of the statement, though awkward, probably refers to the arrival of the Babylonian king, to whom the Lord had assigned the task of judgment (see 23:24). Or the verse may read “A total ruin I will make, even this. It will not be until the one comes to whom is (the task of) judgment and I have assigned it.”