² tc The MT reads בְנִי (v^eni, “my son”); however, the LXX reflects בָנָיו (vanayv, “his sons”). The MT should be retained as original here because of internal evidence; it is much more appropriate to the context.

² tc The MT preserves the awkward first person common plural suffix reading מַלְכֵּנוּ (malakenu, “our king”). The BHS editors suggest reading the third person masculine plural suffix מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”; so CEV), as reflected in the Aramaic Targum.

³ tc The MT has יְהוָה (y^ehvah, “the Lord”); however, many Hebrew mss have כִּי אָנִי (ki ʾani, “that it is I”), as also reflected in the Latin Vulgate (cf. CEV “know who I am”).

⁴ sn The names reflect a Jewish heritage. In Hebrew Daniel means “God is my judge”; Hananiah means “the Lord is gracious”; Mishael means “who is what God is?”; and Azariah means “the Lord has helped.”

² tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).

¹ tn This almost certainly refers to the following morning. For a discussion of various interpretive options in understanding the chronology reflected in verse 18, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:790.

⁴ tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ʿenim) is by all accounts a variation from an original text of כַּיְעֵנִים (kayʿenim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.

¹ tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”), but many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) all reflect a Vorlage of עָלָי (ʿalay, “against me”).

¹ tc The MT reads עַמִּי (ʿammi, “my people”). Many medieval Hebrew mss read עַמִּים (ʿammim, “peoples”), as reflected also in the Syriac Peshitta. The internal evidence (contextual congruence) favors the variant עַמִּים (ʿammim, “peoples”).

⁵ tc The MT reads כָּיָּם (kayyam, “as the sea”), while the LXX reflects a Vorlage of כּוֹס (kos, “a cup”). The textual variant is probably due to simple orthographic confusion between letters of similar appearance. The idiomatic expression favors the MT.

¹ tc The MT reads אַף (ʾaf, “anger”), while the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) reflect אַפּוֹ (ʾappo, “His anger”). The MT is the more difficult reading syntactically, while the ancient versions are probably smoothing out the text.

¹ tn Heb “Declare in Egypt and announce in Migdol and announce in Noph [= Memphis] and in Tahpanhes.” The sentence has been restructured to reflect the fact that the first command is a general one, followed by announcements in specific (representative?) cities.

² tn Heb “And according to all that the Lord our God says, thus declare to us, and we will act.” The restructuring of the sentence is intended to better reflect contemporary English style.

¹ tn Heb “Jeremiah remained/stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.” The translation is meant to better reflect the situation; i.e., Jeremiah was released from the cistern but still had to stay in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

² tn Heb “under the joints of your arms under the ropes.” The two uses of “under” have different orientations and are best reflected by “between your armpits and the ropes” or “under your armpits to pad the ropes.”

¹ tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style, and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”

² tn Heb “who make flesh their arm.” The “arm” is the symbol of strength, and the flesh is the symbol of mortal man in relation to the omnipotent God. The translation “mere flesh and blood” reflects this.

¹ tn The Hebrew particle (the vav [ו] consecutive), which is often rendered in some English versions as “and” and in others is simply left untranslated, is rendered here epexegetically, reflecting a summary statement.

² tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

² tn In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this may reflect a later harmonization to the preceding textual reading of “letters.”