Jeremiah 27:4

27:4 Charge them to give their masters a message from me. Tell them, ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says to give your masters this message. ² 

Jeremiah 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ³  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ⁴  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 40:4

40:4 But now, Jeremiah, today I will set you free ⁶  from the chains on your wrists. If you would like to come to Babylon with me, come along and I will take care of you. ⁷  But if you prefer not to come to Babylon with me, you are not required to do so. ⁸  You are free to go anywhere in the land you want to go. ⁹  Go wherever you choose.” ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 4:20

4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, ¹¹  to be his special people ¹²  as you are today.

Deuteronomy 28:48

28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ¹³  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ¹⁴  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

Isaiah 14:4-6

14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ¹⁵ 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility ¹⁶  has ceased!

14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers.

14:6 It ¹⁷  furiously struck down nations

with unceasing blows. ¹⁸ 

It angrily ruled over nations,

oppressing them without restraint. ¹⁹ 

[27:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[27:4]  ² tn Heb “Give them a charge to their masters saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, “Thus you shall say unto your masters…”’” The sentence is broken up in conformity with contemporary English style.

[27:7]  ³ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[40:4]  ⁶ tn The verb here is an example of the perfect of resolve where the speaker announces his intention to do something according to IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1d. The word “Jeremiah” is supplied in the translation to avoid the possible misunderstanding that the you is still plural.

[40:4]  ⁷ tn Or “look out for you.” See 39:12 and the translator’s note there.

[40:4]  ⁸ tn Or “Stay here”; Heb “Forbear.” The imperative is used in a permissive sense; “you may forbear.” See GKC 324 §110.b and compare usage in Gen 50:6.

[40:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “See all the land [or the whole land] is before you.” For this idiom see BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a(f) and compare the usage in Gen 20:15; 47:6.

[40:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Unto the good and the right in your eyes to go, go there.”

[4:20]  ¹¹ tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[4:20]  ¹² tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.

[28:48]  ¹³ tn Heb “lack of everything.”

[28:48]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

[14:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

[14:4]  ¹⁶ tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

[14:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

[14:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

[14:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.