Jeremiah 22:14

22:14 He says, “I will build myself a large palace

with spacious upper rooms.”

He cuts windows in its walls,

panels it ¹  with cedar, and paints its rooms red. ² 

Jeremiah 36:24

36:24 Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow. ³ 

Jeremiah 41:5

41:5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. ⁴  They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning. ⁵  They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 4:30

4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, ⁷ 

you accomplish nothing ⁸  by wearing a beautiful dress, ⁹ 

decking yourself out in jewels of gold,

and putting on eye shadow! ¹⁰ 

You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.

Your lovers spurn you.

They want to kill you. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 36:23

36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ¹²  of the scroll, the king ¹³  would cut them off with a penknife ¹⁴  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ¹⁵ 

[22:14]  ¹ tc The MT should be emended to read חַלֹּנָיו וְסָפוֹן (khallonayv vÿsafon) instead of חַלֹּנָי וְסָפוּן (khallonay vÿsafon), i.e., the plural noun with third singular suffix rather than the first singular suffix and the infinitive absolute rather than the passive participle. The latter form then parallels the form for “paints” and functions in the same way (cf. GKC 345 §113.z for the infinitive with vav [ו] continuing a perfect). The errors in the MT involve reading the וְ once instead of twice (haplography) and reading the וּ (u) for the וֹ (o).

[22:14]  ² tn The word translated “red” only occurs here and in Ezek 23:14 where it refers to the pictures of the Babylonians on the wall of the temple. Evidently this was a favorite color for decoration. It is usually identified as vermilion, a mineral product from red ocher (cf. C. L. Wickwire, “Vermilion,” IDB 4:748).

[36:24]  ³ tn Heb “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.” The sentence has been broken up into two shorter sentences to better conform to English style and some of the terms explained (e.g., tore their clothes) for the sake of clarity.

[41:5]  ⁵ sn Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria were all cities in the northern kingdom of Israel with important religious and political histories. When Israel was destroyed in 722 b.c., some of the Israelites had been left behind and some of the Judeans had taken up residence in these northern cities. People residing there had participated in the reforms of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:11) and Josiah (2 Chr 34:9) and were evidently still faithfully following the Jewish calendar. They would have been on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish New Year and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34).

[41:5]  ⁶ tn The words “to show they were mourning” are not in the text but are implicit in the acts. They are supplied in the translation for clarification for readers who may not be familiar with ancient mourning customs.

[41:5]  ⁷ tn The words “in Jerusalem” are not in the text but are implicit. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.

[4:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.

[4:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”

[4:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.

[4:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they seek your life.”

[36:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

[36:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.

[36:23]  ¹¹ sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.

[36:23]  ¹² tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”