Jeremiah 39:4-6

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. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ²  39:5 But the Babylonian ³  army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho ⁴  and captured him. ⁵  They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah ⁶  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.

Jeremiah 52:7

52:7 They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ⁷  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 52:2

52:2 He did what displeased the Lord ⁹  just as Jehoiakim had done.

Jeremiah 25:4-7

25:4 Over and over again ¹⁰  the Lord has sent ¹¹  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ¹²  25:5 He said through them, ¹³  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ¹⁶  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ¹⁷  Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says, ¹⁸  ‘You have not listened to me. But ¹⁹  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ²⁰  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

Isaiah 30:17

30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ²¹ 

at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ²² 

until the remaining few are as isolated ²³ 

as a flagpole on a mountaintop

or a signal flag on a hill.”

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ²⁴  standing by the altar ²⁵  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ²⁶  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ²⁷ 

and I will kill the survivors ²⁸  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ²⁹ 

no one will be able to escape. ³⁰ 

[39:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[39:5]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[39:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[52:7]  ⁷ 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.

[52:7]  ⁸ 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.

[52:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[25:4]  ¹⁰ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

[25:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:7]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.

[30:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “One thousand from before [or “because of”] one battle cry.” גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) is often defined as “threat,” but in war contexts it likely refers to a shout or battle cry. See Ps 76:6.

[30:17]  ²² tn Heb “from before [or “because of”] the battle cry of five you will flee.

[30:17]  ²³ tn Heb “until you are left” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[9:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ²⁵ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”