Jeremiah 43:9

“Take some large stones ¹  and bury them in the mortar of the clay pavement ²  at the entrance of Pharaoh’s residence ³  here in Tahpanhes. Do it while the people of Judah present there are watching. ⁴ 

Ex 1:14; 2Sa 12:31; 1Ki 11:29-31; Isa 20:1-4; Jer 13:1-11; Jer 18:2-12; Jer 19:1-15; Jer 51:63,64; Eze 4:1-17; Eze 5:1-17; Eze 12:3-16; Ho 12:10; Na 3:14; Ac 21:11; Re 18:21

¹ tn Heb “Take some large stones in your hands.”

² tn The meaning of the expression “mortar of the clay pavement” is uncertain. The noun translated “mortar” occurs only here and the etymology is debated. Both BDB 572 s.v. מֶלֶט and KBL 529 s.v. מֶלֶט give the meaning “mortar.” The noun translated “clay pavement” is elsewhere used of a “brick mold.” Here BDB 527 s.v. מַלְבֵּן 2 gives “quadrangle” and KBL 527 s.v. מַלְבֵּן 2 gives “terrace of bricks.” HALOT 558 s.v. מֶלֶט and מַלְבֵּן 2 give “loamy soil” for both words, seeing the second noun as a dittography or gloss of the first (see also note c in BHS).

³ sn All the commentaries point out that this was not Pharaoh’s (main) palace but a governor’s residence or other government building that Pharaoh occupied when he was in Tahpanhes.

⁴ tn Heb “in Tahpanhes in the eyes of the men of Judah.”