13:18 The Lord told me, 1
“Tell the king and the queen mother,
‘Surrender your thrones, 2
for your glorious crowns
will be removed 3 from your heads. 4
22:1 The Lord told me, 5 “Go down 6 to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there. 7
38:24 Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. 9 If you do, you will die. 10
42:19 “The Lord has told you people who remain in Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be very sure of this: I warn you 11 here and now. 12
1 tn The words “The
2 tn Or “You will come down from your thrones”; Heb “Make low! Sit!” This is a case of a construction where two forms in the same case, mood, or tense are joined in such a way that one (usually the first) is intended as an adverbial or adjectival modifier of the other (a figure called hendiadys). This is also probably a case where the imperative is used to express a distinct assurance or promise. See GKC 324 §110.b and compare the usage in Isa 37:30 and Ps 110:2.
sn The king and queen mother are generally identified as Jehoiachin and his mother who were taken into captivity with many of the leading people of Jerusalem in 597
3 tn Heb “have come down.” The verb here and those in the following verses are further examples of the “as good as done” form of the Hebrew verb (the prophetic perfect).
4 tc The translation follows the common emendation of a word normally meaning “place at the head” (מַרְאֲשׁוֹת [mar’ashot] plus pronoun = מַרְאֲוֹשׁתֵיכֶם [mar’aoshtekhem]) to “from your heads” (מֵרָאשֵׁיכֶם, mera’shekhem) following the ancient versions. The meaning “tiara” is nowhere else attested for this word.
5 tn The word “me “ is not in the text. It is, however, implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarity.
6 sn The allusion here is to going down from the temple to the palace which was on a lower eminence. See 36:12 in its context.
7 tn Heb “And speak there this word:” The translation is intended to eliminate an awkward and lengthy sentence.
8 tn Or “You are giving these people false assurances.”
9 tn Heb “about these words.”
10 tn Or “so that you will not die.” Or “or you will die.” See the similar construction in 37:20 and the translator’s note there.
sn This is probably not a threat that the king himself will kill Jeremiah, but a premonition that if the pro-Egyptian party that was seeking to kill Jeremiah found out about the conversation they would go ahead and kill Jeremiah (cf. 38:2-4).
11 tn Heb “Know for certain that I warn you…” The idea of “for certain” is intended to reflect the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute before the volitive use of the imperfect (see IBHS 587-88 §35.3.1h and 509 §31.5b). The substitution “of this:” for “that” has been made to shorten the sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.
12 tn Heb “today.”
13 tn Or “Today.”
14 tn The words “what he said” are not in the text but are implicit and seem necessary for clarity.
15 tn Heb “But you have not hearkened to the voice of [idiomatic for “obeyed” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Qal.1.m] the