Discovery BoxJeremiah 36:10
Context36:10 At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. 1 That room was in the upper court 2 near the entrance of the New Gate. 3 There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said. 4
Jeremiah 36:2
Context36:2 “Get a scroll. 5 Write on it everything I have told you to say 6 about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. 7
Jeremiah 22:12-14
Context22:12 For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.” 8
22:13 “‘Sure to be judged 9 is the king who builds his palace using injustice
and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. 10
He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.
22:14 He says, “I will build myself a large palace
with spacious upper rooms.”
He cuts windows in its walls,
panels it 11 with cedar, and paints its rooms red. 12
Jeremiah 25:22
Context25:22 all the kings of Tyre, 13 all the kings of Sidon; 14 all the kings of the coastlands along the sea; 15
Jeremiah 25:2
Context25:2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. 16
Jeremiah 34:20
Context34:20 I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. 17
[36:10] 1 sn Shaphan had been the royal secretary under Jehoiakim’s father’s rule. During the course of his official duties the book of the law had been discovered and he had read it and reported its contents to Josiah who instituted sweeping reforms on the basis of his obedience to it. (See 2 Kgs 22 and note especially vv. 3, 8, 10.) If the Shaphan mentioned in 26:14 is the same person as this, Gemariah would have been the brother of the man who spoke up on Jeremiah’s behalf when the priests and prophets sought to have him killed.
[36:10] 2 sn It is generally agreed that this is the same as the inner court mentioned in 1 Kgs 6:36; 7:12. It is called “upper” here because it stood above (cf. 1 Kgs 7:12) the outer court where all the people were standing.
[36:10] 3 sn The New Gate is the same gate where Jeremiah had been accused of falsely claiming the
[36:10] 4 tn The syntax of the original is complicated due to all the qualifying terms: Heb “And Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the house of the
[36:2] 5 sn Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23).
[36:2] 6 sn The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the
[36:2] 7 sn This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6
[22:12] 8 sn This prophecy was fulfilled according to 2 Kgs 23:34.
[22:13] 9 sn Heb “Woe.” This particle is used in laments for the dead (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 34:5) and as an introductory particle in indictments against a person on whom judgment is pronounced (cf., e.g., Isa 5:8, 11; Jer 23:1). The indictment is found here in vv. 13-17 and the announcement of judgment in vv. 18-19.
[22:13] 10 tn Heb “Woe to the one who builds his house by unrighteousness and its upper rooms with injustice using his neighbor [= countryman] as a slave for nothing and not giving to him his wages.”
[22:14] 11 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] 12 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).
[25:22] 13 map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[25:22] 14 sn Tyre and Sidon are mentioned within the judgment on the Philistines in Jer 47:4. They were Phoenician cities to the north and west of Judah on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is now Lebanon.
[25:22] 15 sn The connection with Tyre and Sidon suggests that these were Phoenician colonies. See also Isa 23:2.
[25:2] 16 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[34:20] 17 sn See this same phrase in Jer 7:33; 16:4; 19:7.
