Discovery BoxJeremiah 6:4
Context6:4 They will say, 1 ‘Prepare to do battle 2 against it!
Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’
But later they will say, 3 ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! 4
The day is almost over
and the shadows of evening are getting long.
Jeremiah 12:3
Context12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.
You watch me and test my devotion to you. 5
Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!
Appoint a time when they will be killed! 6
Jeremiah 17:22
Context17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. 7 But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, 8 as I commanded your ancestors. 9
Jeremiah 51:28
Context51:28 Prepare the nations to do battle against her. 10
Prepare the kings of the Medes.
Prepare their governors and all their leaders. 11
Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. 12
[6:4] 1 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:4] 2 tn Heb “Sanctify war.” This is probably an idiom from early Israel’s holy wars in which religious rites were to precede the battle.
[6:4] 3 tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity. Some commentaries and English versions see these not as the words of the enemy but as those of the Israelites expressing their fear that the enemy will launch a night attack against them and further destroy them. The connection with the next verse, however, fits better with them if they are the words of the enemy.
[6:4] 4 tn Heb “Woe to us!” For the usage of this phrase see the translator’s note on 4:13. The usage of this particle here is a little exaggerated. They have lost the most advantageous time for attack but they are scarcely in a hopeless or doomed situation. The equivalent in English slang is “Bad news!”
[12:3] 5 tn Heb “You,
[12:3] 6 tn Heb “set aside for them a day of killing.”
[17:22] 9 tn Heb “Do not carry any loads out of your houses on the Sabbath day and do not do any work.” Translating literally might give the wrong impression that they were not to work at all. The phrase “on the Sabbath day” is, of course, intended to qualify both prohibitions.
[17:22] 10 tn Heb “But sanctify [or set apart as sacred] the Sabbath day.” The idea of setting it apart as something sacred to the
[51:28] 13 tn See the first translator’s note on 51:27 and compare also 6:4 and the study note there.
[51:28] 14 tn See the translator’s note at 51:23 for the rendering of the terms here.
[51:28] 15 tc The Hebrew text has a confusing switch of possessive pronouns in this verse: “Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, her governors and prefects, and all the land of his dominion.” This has led to a number of different resolutions. The LXX (the Greek version) renders the word “kings” as singular and levels all the pronouns to “his,” paraphrasing the final clause and combining it with “king of the Medes” to read “and of all the earth.” The Latin Vulgate levels them all to the third masculine plural, and this is followed by the present translation as well as a number of other modern English versions (NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, NCV). The ASV and NJPS understand the feminine to refer to Media, i.e., “her governors and all her prefects” and understand the masculine in the last line to be a distributive singular referring back to the lands each of the governors and prefects ruled over. This is probably correct but since governors and prefects refer to officials appointed over provinces and vassal states it amounts to much the same interpretation that the Latin Vulgate, the present translation, and other modern English versions have given.
