Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:26 
Context2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,
so the people of Israel 1 will suffer dishonor for what they have done. 2
So will their kings and officials,
their priests and their prophets.
Jeremiah 4:9
Context4:9 “When this happens,” 3 says the Lord,
“the king and his officials will lose their courage.
The priests will be struck with horror,
and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment.”
Jeremiah 22:2
Context22:2 Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. 4 You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says. 5
Jeremiah 26:12
Context26:12 Then Jeremiah made his defense before all the officials and all the people. 6 “The Lord sent me to prophesy everything you have heard me say against this temple and against this city.
Jeremiah 26:16
Context26:16 Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said, 7 “This man should not be condemned to die. 8 For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.” 9
Jeremiah 26:21
Context26:21 When the king and all his bodyguards 10 and officials heard what he was prophesying, 11 the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear. 12
Jeremiah 29:2
Context29:2 He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, 13 the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem. 14
Jeremiah 34:19
Context34:19 I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, 15 the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf. 16
Jeremiah 36:21
Context36:21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He went and got it from the room of Elishama, the royal secretary. Then he himself 17 read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him.
Jeremiah 37:14-15
Context37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” 18 But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials. 37:15 The officials were very angry 19 at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners. 20
Jeremiah 37:18
Context37:18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison? 21
Jeremiah 38:27
Context38:27 All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah. 22 He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. 23 They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation. 24
Jeremiah 48:7
Context48:7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches.
So you too will be conquered.
Your god Chemosh 25 will go into exile 26
along with his priests and his officials.
Jeremiah 51:57
Context51:57 “I will make her officials and wise men drunk,
along with her governors, leaders, 27 and warriors.
They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” 28
says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. 29
1 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
2 tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Heb “In that day.”
4 tn Heb “who sits on David’s throne.”
5 tn Heb “Hear the word of the
6 tn Heb “Jeremiah said to all the leaders and all the people….” See the note on the word “said” in the preceding verse.
7 tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”
9 tn Heb “For in the name of the
sn The priests and false prophets claimed that they were speaking in the
10 tn Heb “all his mighty men/soldiers.” It is unlikely that this included all the army. It more likely was the palace guards or royal bodyguards (see 2 Sam 23 where the same word is used of David’s elite corps).
11 tn Heb “his words.”
12 tn Heb “But Uriah heard and feared and fled and entered Egypt.”
13 tn This term is often mistakenly understood to refer to a “eunuch.” It is clear, however, in Gen 39:1 that “eunuchs” could be married. On the other hand it is clear from Isa 59:3-5 that some who bore this title could not have children. In this period, it is possible that the persons who bore this title were high officials like the rab saris who was a high official in the Babylonian court (cf. Jer 39:3, 13; 52:25). For further references see HALOT 727 s.v. סָרִיס 1.c.
14 sn See 2 Kgs 24:14-16 and compare the study note on Jer 24:1.
15 tn For the rendering of this term see the translator’s note on 29:2.
16 tn This verse is not actually a sentence in the Hebrew original but is a prepositioned object to the verb in v. 20, “I will hand them over.” This construction is called casus pendens in the older grammars and is used to call attention to a subject or object (cf. GKC 458 §143.d and compare the usage in 33:24). The same nondescript “I will punish” which was used to resolve the complex sentence in the previous verse has been chosen to introduce the objects here before the more specific “I will hand them over” in the next verse.
17 tn Heb “and Jehudi read it.” However, Jehudi has been the subject of the preceding; so it would be awkward in English to use the personal subject. The translation has chosen to bring out the idea that Jehudi himself read it by using the reflexive.
18 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
19 sn The officials mentioned here are not the same as those mentioned in Jer 36:12, most of whom were favorably disposed toward Jeremiah, or at least regarded what he said with enough trepidation to try to protect Jeremiah and preserve the scroll containing his messages (36:16, 19, 24). All those officials had been taken into exile with Jeconiah in 597
20 tn Heb “for they had made it into the house of confinement.” The causal particle does not fit the English sentence very well and “house of confinement” needs some explanation. Some translate this word “prison” but that creates redundancy with the earlier word translated “prison” (בֵּית הָאֵסוּר, bet ha’esur, “house of the band/binding”] which is more closely related to the concept of prison [cf. אָסִיר, ’asir, “prisoner”]). It is clear from the next verse that Jeremiah was confined in a cell in the dungeon of this place.
21 tn Heb “What crime have I committed against you, or your servants, or this people that you [masc. pl.] have put me in prison?” Some of the terms have been expanded for clarification and the sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style.
The masculine plural is used here because Zedekiah is being addressed as representative of the whole group previously named.
22 tn Heb “All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him.”
23 tn Heb “And he reported to them according to all these words which the king had commanded.”
24 tn Heb “And they were silent from him because the word/matter [i.e., the conversation between Jeremiah and the king] had not been heard.” According to BDB 578 s.v. מִן 1.a the preposition “from” is significant in this construction, implying a verb of motion. I.e., “they were [fell] silent [and turned away] from him.”
25 sn Chemosh was the national god of Moab (see also Numb 21:29). Child sacrifice appears to have been a part of his worship (2 Kgs 3:27). Solomon built a high place in Jerusalem for him (1 Kgs 11:7), and he appears to have been worshiped in Israel until Josiah tore that high place down (2 Kgs 23:13).
26 sn The practice of carrying off the gods of captive nations has already been mentioned in the study note on 43:12. See also Isa 46:1-2 noted there.
27 sn For discussion of the terms “governors” and “leaders” see the note at Jer 51:23.
28 sn See the note at Jer 51:39.
29 tn For the title “Yahweh of armies” see the study note on Jer 2:19.
