Jeremiah 27:11-12

Context
27:11 Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to¹ the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation² in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’”³

27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said,⁴ “Submit⁵ to the yoke of servitude to⁶ the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live.

Jeremiah 37:13

Context
37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate.⁷ There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah,⁸ who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said,⁹ “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”¹⁰

Jeremiah 27:8

Context
27:8 But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to¹¹ him. I, the Lord, affirm that¹² I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it¹³ with war,¹⁴ starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it.¹⁵

[27:11] ¹tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:11] ²tn The words “Things will go better for” are not in the text. They are supplied contextually as a means of breaking up the awkward syntax of the original which reads “The nation which brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and subjects itself to him, I will leave it…”

[27:11] ³tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:12] ⁴tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”

[27:12] ⁵sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).

[27:12] ⁶tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[37:13] ⁷sn The Benjamin Gate would have been a gate in the northern wall leading out toward the territory of Benjamin. It is mentioned only here and in Jer 38:7 and Zech 14:10.

[37:13] ⁸sn Nothing further is known about Irijah. It is generally agreed that the Hananiah mentioned here is not the same as the false prophet of the same name whom Jeremiah confronted approximately six years earlier (28:1, 5, 10, 15).

[37:13] ⁹tn Heb “And he was in the gate of Benjamin and there was an officer of the guard whose name [more literally, and his name] was Irijah…and he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying.” The sentence has been broken down and simplified to better conform with contemporary English style.

[37:13] ¹⁰tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[27:8] ¹⁰tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:8] ¹¹tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:8] ¹²tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the Lord.” The long complex Hebrew sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and the figures interpreted for the sake of clarity. The particle אֵת, the sign of the accusative, before “which will not put…” is a little unusual here. For its use to introduce a new topic (here a second relative clause) see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α.

[27:8] ¹³tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

[27:8] ¹⁴tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.