Jeremiah 37:17

37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, ¹  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, ²  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ³ 

Jeremiah 38:18

38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians ⁴  and they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them.’” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 38:23

38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. ⁶  You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the ⁷  king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 39:4-7

39:4 When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ⁹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ¹⁰  39:5 But the Babylonian ¹¹  army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho ¹²  and captured him. ¹³  They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah ¹⁴  in the territory of Hamath and Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him there. 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 ¹⁵  to be led off to Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:8-11

52:8 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, ¹⁶  and his entire army deserted him. 52:9 They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah ¹⁷  in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. 52:10 The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah. 52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ¹⁸  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

Jeremiah 52:2

52:2 He did what displeased the Lord ¹⁹  just as Jehoiakim had done.

Jeremiah 25:4-7

25:4 Over and over again ²⁰  the Lord has sent ²¹  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ²²  25:5 He said through them, ²³  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ²⁴  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ²⁵  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ²⁶  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ²⁷  Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says, ²⁸  ‘You have not listened to me. But ²⁹  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ³⁰  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

Ezekiel 12:12-13

12:12 “The prince ³¹  who is among them will raise his belongings ³²  onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He ³³  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 ³⁴  (but he will not see it), ³⁵  and there he will die. ³⁶ 

Ezekiel 17:13-21

17:13 He took one from the royal family, ³⁷  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ³⁸  He then took the leaders of the land 17:14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ³⁹  rebelled against the king of Babylon ⁴⁰  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ⁴¹  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ⁴²  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ⁴³  – he gave his promise ⁴⁴  and did all these things – he will not escape!

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ⁴⁵  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 ⁴⁶  among his troops will die ⁴⁷  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

Ezekiel 21:25-26

21:25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, ⁴⁸ 

whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Tear off the turban, ⁴⁹ 

take off the crown!

Things must change! ⁵⁰ 

Exalt the lowly,

bring down the proud! ⁵¹ 

[37:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”

[37:17]  ² tn Heb “Then he said.”

[37:17]  ³ sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)

[38:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”

[38:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by [caught in] the hand of the king of Babylon.” Neither use of “hand” is natural to the English idiom.

[38:23]  ⁹ tc This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew mss. The majority of the Hebrew mss read “and you will burn down this city.” This reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and English versions. Few of the commentaries, however, bother to explain the fact that the particle אֶת (’et), which normally marks the accusative object, is functioning here as the subject. For this point of grammar see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 1.b. Or this may be another case where אֵת introduces a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α and see usage in 27:8; 36:22).

[39:4]  ¹⁰ sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.

[39:4]  ¹¹ sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.

[39:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[39:5]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[39:5]  ¹⁵ sn 2 Kgs 25:5 and Jer 52:8 mention that the soldiers all scattered from him. That is why the text focuses on Zedekiah here.

[39:5]  ¹⁶ sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.

[39:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[52:8]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[52:9]  ²² sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.

[52:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[52:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[25:4]  ³¹ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ³² tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ³³ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

[25:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[25:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

[25:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[25:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:7]  ⁴¹ tn This is a rather clear case where the Hebrew particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a consequence and not a purpose, contrary to the dictum of BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. They have not listened to him in order to make him angry but with the result that they have made him angry by going their own way. Jeremiah appears to use this particle for result rather than purpose on several other occasions (see, e.g., 7:18, 19; 27:10, 15; 32:29).

[25:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[12:12]  ⁴³ sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.

[12:12]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.

[12:12]  ⁴⁵ tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”

[12:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).

[12:13]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).

[17:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).

[17:13]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”

[17:15]  ⁵² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ⁵³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:16]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[17:18]  ⁶¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.

[17:18]  ⁶² sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).

[17:19]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “place it on his head.”

[17:21]  ⁶⁷ 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]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[21:25]  ⁷⁰ tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.

[21:26]  ⁷³ 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]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “This not this.”

[21:26]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “the high one.”