Jeremiah 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 

Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads."

Say to the king and the queen mother, "Take a lowly seat, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your head."

Say to the king and his mother, "Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns will soon be snatched from your heads."

Tell the king and the queen-mother, "Come down off your high horses. Your dazzling crowns will tumble off your heads."

Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads.

Say to the king and the queen mother; "Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head."

Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory."

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 

¹ tn The words “The Lord told me” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift from second plural pronouns in vv. 15-17 to second singular in the Hebrew text of this verse. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

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 b.c. See Jer 22:26; 29:2; 2 Kgs 24:14-16.

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.