CHAPTER 28
1. Now what took place that year, in the first part of the reign of Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, [was that] Chananyah, son of Azzur the prophet who was from Giv'on, spoke to me in the House of YHWH, in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying,
In the sight of: literally, for the eyes of. Giv'on was a town with a history of both deceit (Yehoshua 9) and wisdom (1 Kings 3). The prophet that came from there was a mixture of both. His words were half true:
2. "This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Bavel!
3. "'Within two more years, I will return to this place all the vessels of the House of YHWH, which Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, took from this place and brought into Bavel.
Within two more years: Literally, In two more years of days. The Aramaic and Greek translations suggest that it means when two full years were completed.
4. "'I will also return Yechonyah, son of Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah to this place along with all of Yehudah's exiles,' declares YHWH, 'because I will break the yoke of the king of Bavel.'"
5. Then Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke to Chananyah the prophet for in the sight of the priests and in the sight of all the people who were standing in the House of YHWH,
People who were standing: perhaps the "standing men", priests who rotated their duty in the Temple according to the order set up by David. (1 Chron. 24) The more familiar Greek form of Chananyah is Ananias. It was also the name of one of Daniel's three companions who was delivered from the furnace.
6. and Yirmeyahu the prophet said, "I wish [you] were right! I wish YHWH would do just that! I wish YHWH would cause the words you have prophesied to stand, that all the vessels of YHWH and all the exiles be brought back from Bavel to this place!
The only thing Yirmeyahu did not agree with was the time frame. Yet the test of a prophet's genuineness is in the details:
7. "But now, please hear this word that I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
8. "The prophets that have come before you and me since ages [past] indeed prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, for war and for trouble, and for a plague.
9. "[As for] the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes [true], then the prophet will be known [as one] whom YHWH has really sent."
10. Then Chananyah the prophet took the yoke-bar from the back of Yirmeyahu's neck, and broke it.
11. And Chananyah said, in the sight of all the people, "This is what YHWH says: 'Just like this I will break the yoke of Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, from off the neck of all nations within two years of days.'" And the prophet Yirmeyahu went his way.
Until his last phrase, the prophet was speaking the truth. However, he interjected his own wishes at the end. We will see how seriously YHWH took this addition to His words. It is a fearful privilege to be His spokesman; it is crucial to know when to stop speaking.
12. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu after Chananyah the prophet had broken the yoke-bar from off the neck of Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying,
13. "Go and tell Chananyah, 'This is what YHWH has said: 'You have broken yoke-bars of wood, but in their place you have [managed to] produce yokes of iron!'
14. "Because this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, has said: 'I have set a yoke of iron on the back of the neck of all these nations to be in the service of Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel, and they will [indeed] serve him! I have even given him the animals of the field as well.'"
15. Then Yirmeyahu the prophet told Chananyah the prophet, "Listen now, Chananyah! YHWH has not sent you, but you have made this people put their confidence in a lie!
Confidence in a lie: We have often done the same, whether it be the assumption that YHWH has to forgive us even if we are not repentant, or that we will be spared persecution or will necessarily prosper financially if we have faith. But those who lead others to have such false confidence are held more accountable.
16. "So this is what YHWH has said: 'Behold, I am dismissing you from [being] upon the face of the earth; you will die this year, because you have spoken [what amounts to] defection toward YHWH."
Proverbs 19:9 says a false witness will not go unpunished.
17. And Chananyah the prophet did die that year in the seventh month.
Aramaic, died that year, and was buried in the seventh month. This was two months after the aforementioned events took place. It may have been on the tenth of the month at Yom Kippur, the day when the books are closed on those who have not repented by that point.
CHAPTER 29
1. Now these are the words of the scroll that Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the remnant of the elders [who had been carried away into] exile, as well as to the priests and the prophets and all the people whom Nevukhadnetzar had taken away from Yerushalayim into Bavel
2. (after Yechonyah the king and the queen, the eunuchs, and the rulers of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, as well as the craftsmen and the smiths had left Yerushalayim)
Queen: or queen mother; literally, the great woman. Eunuchs: not an Israelite practice, but probably borrowed by the kings from other nations.
3. by the hand of El'asah the son of Shafan and Gemaryah the son of Chilqiyah, whom Tsidqiyahu king of Yehudah sent into Bavel to Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel:
El'asah means "Elohim has done [it]". Chilqiyah: perhaps another name for Yirmeyahu's own father.
4. "This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have caused to be carried [away] from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel:
5. "'Build houses and settle down and plant gardens and eat their fruit.
Eat their fruit: If this was the fruit of trees, they would have to wait five years (Lev. 19:25)--not the "less than two years" that Chananyah had predicted.
6. "'Take wives, and father sons and daughters, and takes wives for your sons, and give your daughters to men [in marriage] so that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply so that you may not grow few [in number],
These commands apply to our present exile as well. Yet we must never forget that we are in exile. (1 Kefa/Peter 2:11)
7. "'and seek the welfare of the city into which I have caused you to be exiled, and pray to YHWH for it, because when it has peace, then you will have peace';
Seek: from a root meaning to plow up; i.e., take whatever steps are necessary to that end. The Jews who surrendered and went into Bavel were treated well, having freedom of religion much like that found in the free world today. Many even forgot that they were not at home, much like many Jews today. But the Holocaust showed that their hosts would never regard them as truly assimilated, nor does YHWH want us to. It is allowable for a master to loan out his servants to another, but they do not therefore belong to that other forever. Our exile was His will, but now He intends for us to be remembering who we are and taking steps to bring it to an end.
8. "because this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, has said: 'Do not let your prophets, who are in your innermost [circle], nor your practitioners of divination, deceive you, and do not listen to your own dreams that you are dreaming up,
9. "'because they are prophesying to you fraudulently in My Name. I have not sent them,' declares YHWH.
10. "For this is what YHWH has said: 'When, according to My word, seventy years have been completed for Bavel, I will muster you and bring into effect the benefit I have promised you, of bringing you back to this place,
According to My word: literally, for My mouth. Muster: or visit, pay attention to. Bring into effect: or cause to be established.
11. "because I acknowledge that the plans I am making for you," declares YHWH, "[are] plans [for] peace and not for misery, to bestow on you posterity and hope.
12. "Then you will call out to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you,
Pray: plead for our exile to end again, just as Daniel and Nehemyah did. Like them, we should recall that we are not worthy, yet appeal to His promises to our ancestors. When the Israelites in Egypt finally cried out to Him, He listened and responded.
13. "and you will search for Me [with intense longing] and acquire [what you seek], because you will follow Me with your whole heart!
Follow: seek, demand, investigate carefully, or consult. This is the opposite of what Adam did, and what Yehudah had been doing; both wanted to make decisions without asking for His expertise. These are the steps that will bring our exile to an end. He gave Efrayim a path home as well. But for the majority of Yehudah it has taken many centuries to be completely fulfilled.
14. "And I will [allow Myself to] be found by you," declares YHWH. "Then I will return your captives and gather you together out of all the nations, and from all the places into which I have caused you to be banished," declares YHWH, "and I will bring you back to the place from which I have caused you to be removed,
All the places: This is speaking of a larger scenario than simply Yehudah going in to Bavel; it refers to all the tribes that were exiled by Ashur previously and thereafter scattered to every part of the world.
15. "since you have said, 'YHWH has raised up prophets for us in Bavel',
I.e., they admitted that that was where He wanted them and that was where His provision lay at this time.
16. "because this is what YHWH says to the king who sits on the throne of David, and to all the people who remain in this city--your relatives who have not gone out with you into exile--
17. "this is what YHWH of Armies says: 'Indeed, I am releasing onto them the sword, the famine, and the plague, which will make them like disgusting figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.
Disgusting: from a word meaning "split open" (thus, spilling their contents and harboring pests attracted by their decay).
18. "'I will even chase them down with the sword, the famine, and the plague, and make them a cause for swearing, horror, and whistling and an object of scorn among all the nations into which I have caused them to be banished
19. "'in return for [the fact] that they have not listened to My words,' declares YHWH, 'which I sent to them with My servants the prophets--[having them] to get up early and extend [the offer], yet you would not listen,' declares YHWH.
20. "So you listen to the word of YHWH, all [you] exiles whom I have sent from Yerushalayim into Bavel:
21. "This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says in regard to Akh'av the son of Qolayah and in regard to Tzidqiyahu the son of Maaseyah who are prophesying to you fraudulently in My Name: 'Here I am, handing you over into the power of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and he will strike them down before your [very] eyes.
22. "'Then they will be taken up as a vilification by all the exiles of Yehudah who are in Bavel, saying, "May YHWH make you like Tzidqiyahu and Akh'av, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire!"
23. "'in return for their committing disgraceful folly in Israel, having committed adultery with their companions' wives and having uttered a deceitful word in My name, about which I did not give them orders, because I am the one who knows and bears witness,' declares YHWH.
24. "And you shall tell Shema'yah the Nehelamite,
25. "'This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "In exchange for your having sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Yerushalayim and to Ts'fanyah the son of Maaseyah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26. "'"'YHWH has made you priest in place of Yehoyada the priest, to become overseers in the House of YHWH for every madman who makes himself a prophet so that you assign him to the stocks and to the pillory.
Makes himself a prophet: or, acts the part of a prophet. Stocks: or a narrow, vaulted prison that requires one's body to be contorted somewhat to fit into it, or simply stiff from being unable to move while within it.
27. "'"'So then why have you not rebuked Yirmeyahu the Anathothite, who makes himself your prophet?
Makes himself your prophet: seemingly; it is a rhetorical question much like Yahshua's: "If Yochanan is sent by YHWH, why don't you obey what he says?"
28. "'"'Because on account of this He sent you into Bavel, saying, "It [will be a] long [time]; build houses and settle down and plant gardens and eat their fruit."'"'"
29. And Ts'fanyah the priest read the scroll within ear[shot] of Yirmeyahu the prophet.
30. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
31. "Send [word] to all the exiles, saying, 'This is what YHWH says in regard to Shema'yah the Nehelamite: In exchange for Shema'yah's prophesying to you although I did not send him, and [since] he wrongfully made you feel secure,
32. "'therefore YHWH says this: Behold, I am calling Shema'yah the Nehelamite to account [and punishing him and] his descendants! Not a man of his will [any longer] dwell among this nation, nor will he catch a glimpse of the prosperity that I will bring about for My people,' declares YHWH, 'because he has spoken [what amounts to] defection toward YHWH.'"
Since he led others to defect, his punishment fit the crime: he was banished from returning.
CHAPTER 30
1. The word from YHWH that came to Yirmeyahu:
2. "This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Write all the words that I have said to you in a scroll,
3. "'because behold, days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when I will turn back the captives of My people Israel and Yehudah--YHWH has said [it]--and I will bring them back to the Land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.'"
Here He overtly includes the Northern Kingdom which was exiled long before Yehudah. They will take possession: or dispossess; LXX, they will be its masters. Here he does become a prophets to the nations (1:5, 10), for these people are scattered among the nations, many having "become Gentiles". (See note on v. 24.)
4. Now these are the words that YHWH said to Israel and Yehudah,
5. because this is what YHWH has said: "We have heard a voice trembling [with anxiety]--it was afraid and lacking in peace.
Peace: soundness or completeness.
6. "Please carefully inquire and find out if there is a male that gives birth! Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in childbirth, and every face turned pale?
This alludes to the Birthpangs of the Messiah (Mat. 24:8), the fruitful time of anguish in which the "birth" of a new man is promised (Gen. 35:16; Eph. 2:15; Gal. 4:19), while the counterfeit man will prove not a child at all, but only indigestion and wind (Yeshayahu 21:3; 26:18). It is the closing of one door (which seems to cramp us, as the word connotes) but the threshold to or crossing over into something new, a harbinger of the arrival of something (Yochanan 16:21), as the word also means "ambassador". While Yahshua, the Head, was born before she went into labor (Yeshayahu 66:7), the promise that the rest will come (66:9), though it looks impossible (Yesh. 37:3); His Body is the result of this (Rev. 12:2, 17) The deliverance will begin in Bavel/Babylon (Micha 4:10), and indeed His Body is being brought together while we are still in exile. Many antagonistic factors will cast doubt on the viable "birth" of the One New Man, the reunited Israel, the Messianic Kingdom. YHWH will bring us to the point where only He can deliver us, but the darkest backdrop is the place where His ability shines most brightly, just as the new moon comes right after the darkest time. Pale: Aramaic, like jaundice.
7. "Alas, because that day is great since there is none that compares with it, and it is a time of [dire] straits for Yaaqov, yet he will be delivered from it.
Great: in intensity or importance. Dire straits: the feminine form of the word for narrow or tight spots or stress/distress. Thus it can refer to the birth canal, from which the child being born is then "delivered". Any woman who has given birth can testify that there is no pain that compares with it. So this is speaking of Yaaqov's being "born" back into the world again after presumably having become a thing of the past.
8. "And what will take place on that day," declares YHWH [Master] of Armies, "[is that] I will break his yoke from [being] on the back of your neck, and snap off your chastening-bands, and he will never again [be forced to] serve a foreigner.
Chastening-bands: Aramaic, chains. In the context of the false prophecies about when Yehudah would be delivered from Bavel, YHWH appears to be saying it will not take place completely until the last days. This is because Yehudah carried many Babylonian customs back with them (such as the practice of not voicing the name of their deity), and many remained there and became thoroughly intertwined with the system that Babylon began and which continues to present-day assimilation. But this phrase is very similar to what Yitzhaq told Esau he would do to Yaaqov: "You will serve your brother, yet when you brandish that sword, you will break his yoke from off your neck". (Gen. 27:40) Since Esau is, by tradition, the ancestor of the Romans, Esau's yoke has indeed been on the House of Israel as well, having much the same effect as Bavel's, with its emphasis on material wealth. Esau had the same father as Yaaqov; likewise the church uses the same Scriptures, yet majors on its minor points and all but ignores what YHWH spends the most time on. One Jewish tradition says Esau was the one who killed Nimrod (hence inheriting his crown; Nimrod was the founder of Bavel.) Y'shua offered a better yoke--learning to know His Father as He did. (Mat. 11:28-30) This will rid us of foreign (Gentile) religious agendas and their concepts of what YHWH is like.
9. "Rather, they will serve YHWH their Elohim and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
Raise up: or resurrect. This is usually taken as a reference to the Messiah, David's descendant. Nonetheless, for that reason He is, in a sense, David himself, bearing his genes, and thus keeping him alive. Yehezqel 34:23 says David would reign over both houses of Israel as one shepherd for both. (cf. 37:24; Hos. 1:11)
10. "So as for you, do not be afraid, My servant Yaaqov," says YHWH. "Do not go to pieces, O Israel, because here I am, bringing you deliverance from afar off, and [rescue] your descendants from [the] land of their captivity. Then Yaaqov will return and be undisturbed and at ease, and there will be no one [who will] make him tremble,
Do not...: These are instructions for that time of Yaaqov's birthpangs.
11. "because I am [the one who is] with you," declares YHWH, "to deliver you. Even if I should finish off all the nations into which I have scattered you, still I will not bring a complete destruction to you, though I will discipline you to the extent that I [legally] determine you deserve, and will not entirely acquit you,
I am the one who is with you: Aramaic, My Memra (living Word) is at your assistance to redeem you.
12. "because," YHWH says, "your fracture is severe and your wound is sickening.
13. "There is no one to plead your case so that [your wound] might be bound; there is no remedy to make new skin form over [it].
14. "All of your lovers have forgotten you; they do not even care to search for you, because I have struck you with the blow of an enemy--[the] chastisement of a cruel one--on [account of] how badly you were twisted [out of shape, and] how many times you had wandered [off track].
Care to search for you: Aramaic, ask about your welfare.
15. "What can you cry [to] for help in regard to your fracture? Your pain is severe on [account of] how badly you were twisted [out of shape and] I have done these things to you [because of] how many times you had wandered [off track].
16. "Nonetheless, all who devour you will be devoured, and all who oppress you--every one of them--will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will become [the] spoils, and those who prey upon you I will assign to be the booty,
Go into captivity: LXX, eat their own flesh.
17. "because I will raise you back to health, and I will doctor your wounds," declares YHWH, "since they called you an outcast--'Tzion, whom no one revisits'."
Revisits: or resorts to, frequents. I.e., no one goes there regularly for the festivals as they used to. Part of the reason YHWH takes compassion on Israel is because no one else will. Both the church and Islam diminished the value of Yerushalayim by making other places more important to their adherents, or said it was no longer necessary or important to obey YHWH in this way.
18. This is what YHWH says: "I will turn back the captivity of Yaaqov's tents and I will have compassion on his dwelling places, and the city will be rebuilt on her own mound [of ruins], and a palace where it has been duly proven to have sat.
Yaaqov's tents: symbolic of his descendants' places or habits of study. Palace: or fortress, citadel. Duly proven: by reliable archaeology and historical documents from antiquity, not by guesswork, as many spurious sites for biblical events were "located" by Emperor Constantine's mother.
19. "And from them will emanate thanksgiving and the voice of merrymakers, and I will multiply them, and they will never be diminished; I will cause them to be honored, and they will not be taken lightly.
Merrymakers: or those who make music; from the root word for Yitzhaq (laughter).
20. "And his descendants will be as they were [in] ancient times, and his congregating before Me will be firmly established, and I will punish any who oppress him.
As they were: There are so many implications of this "return to the ancient path" (6:16). On aspect of this is seen in Tsefanyah 3:9, which says YHWH will restore His people to the use of a pure language (i.e., Hebrew, which for many centuries was relegated to the status of Latin today--used only for religious ceremonies).
21. "And his chief will be from within, and his governor will come forth from his own innermost part, and I will bring him near and he will approach Me, because who is it that has given his heart in pledge to come close to Me?" says YHWH.
From within: i.e., foreigners will no longer rule over Israel. (v. 8) Rather, someone who has grown up within the same structure and knows Torah intimately, and would thus allow the people under his rule to keep it too. Establishing such authority structures (setting the stage for the Messiah) is itself a crucial stage in the coming of the Kingdom.
22. "Indeed you will serve as a people for Me, and I will become an Elohim for you."
23. Behold, YHWH's stormwind goes out with [heated] fury; a [constantly] roaring stormwind that will whirl over the head of the wicked [and sweep them away]!
24. The fierce anger of YHWH will not turn back until He has accomplished [this], or until He has made the purposes of His heart binding; in the last days you will understand it.
Made binding: or established, caused to stand. In the last days: This is why it was written down for the day when YHWH would bring the exiles back (v. 2-3). It was not meant for anyone in his day to understand it. But we now do understand this passage, so that time of return is quickly approaching.
25. "At that time," declares YHWH, "I will serve as Elohim to all the families of Israel, and they will become a people for Me."
CHAPTER 31
1. This is what YHWH says: "The people that survived the sword has found favor in the wilderness--Israel, when I go to provide him with rest."
LXX, I found them warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword; go and do not destroy Israel.
2. YHWH has appeared to me from far away, [saying], "I have loved you [with] an eternal love; on account of this I have, in mercy, allowed you to continue [to exist].
3. "Again I will build you up, and you will be [permanently] established, O maiden Israel. Again you will put on your drums and proceed out to the whirling dance of those who laugh in merriment.
Maiden: or virgin, but with the root meaning of being separated, as one who has been promised in marriage to a particular man. Drums: The term can include the timbrel or any percussion instrument.
4. "Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Shomron; the planters will plant them, then begin [again],
The mountains of Shomron: part of the very area most disputed in Israel today--the "West Bank". Then begin again: Aramaic, eat them as common produce.
5. "because there [will be] a day [when] the watchmen on the mountains of Efrayim will call out, 'Get up, and let's go up to Tzion--to YHWH our Elohim!'
Watchmen: Aramaic, The righteous who have kept My law from of old... Their portion is the Land of Israel, because they were longing for the years of consolations which are coming, saying, "When will we arise and go up to Tzion?" But Yahshua says the same blessing will be shared with those who came back to the Torah even in the eleventh hour because no one taught them the truth earlier, yet they were just as eager to work. (Mat. 20) These mountains of Efrayim are the same as the Mountains of Shomron in v. 4. That they are again called this means that not only Yehudah, but the other tribes will also be back in the Land at this time.
6. "for this is what YHWH says: 'Gladly sing [a ringing song of victory] for Yaaqov, and give a shrill cry in the first of the nations. Make it heard! Rave as if [you were] a madman and say, "O YHWH, rescue Your people, the remnant of Israel!"
7. "'Here I am, bringing them from the land of the north, having gathered them from the recesses of the earth, and along with them the blind and those who hobble, together with those who are pregnant and giving birth--a great congregation they will return here.
Bringing them: the Aramaic adds "suddenly". Land of the north: or, hidden land. LXX, from the end of the earth to the Feast of the Passover, and the people will beget a great multitude. Blind and those who hobble: spiritually, those who do not understand and fence-sitters who go back and forth between two ideologies (the same term used in 1 Kings 18:21). But why are they singled out here? Perhaps to reassure those who are literally blind and lame, since David will be ruling (30:9), and he said he hated such people (2 Shmuel 5:6-8) when they were used to mock him. YHWH would not let his hasty reaction curse the truly needy. Yahshua healed specifically the blind and the lame as a sign that He would one day complete the process. (Mat. 21:14)
8. "'With overflowing tears they will come; I will cause them to be conducted along with requests for favor. I will cause them to walk by dried-up riverbeds [now filled again with] water. I will lead them by a level path on which they will not be made to stumble, because I will be a Father to Israel, and Efrayim is My firstborn.'
Requests for favor: i.e., "letters of recommendation" from Himself to the hosts of the nations through which they have to pass, just as He gave us favor in the eyes of the Egyptians as we were leaving. Cause them to walk: LXX, cause them to lodge; Aram., I will lead them to streams of water by a straight road. Stumble: LXX, err. Efrayim is My firstborn: Aram., is beloved before Me; not only is he counted as Yaaqov's firstborn (Gen. 48:5; cf. 49:3), but as YHWH's own firstfruits.
9. "Listen to a word [from] YHWH, O nations, and cause it to be announced in the coastlands from afar off: 'He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep watch over him as a shepherd [watches over] his flock,
10. "'because YHWH has ransomed Yaaqov, and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
11. "'Then they will come and sing on the elevation of Tzion and be radiant about how YHWH [has acted] rightly in regard to grain, new wine, fresh oil, and offspring of the flock and the herd, and their soul will become like a garden that has drunk its fill, and they will never again languish.
12. "'Then the virgin will rejoice in the dancing, both young men [in their prime] and bearded [elders] together. I will turn their mourning into joy, and will be moved to have compassion [on] them, and gladden them from their sorrow,
Virgin: Aramaic, the assembly of Israel. Compare Zech. 8:19. Dance: LXX, assembly of youth.
13. "'and I will abundantly saturate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people will be [more than] satisfied with My beneficence', declares YHWH."
LXX, I will expand and cheer with wine the soul of the priests and the sons of Levi. This means people will be bringing their tithes and that they will have great prosperity from which to tithe.
14. This is what YHWH says: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitterly overflowing with tears--Rachel weeping for her descendants. She refuses to be comforted in regard to her descendants, because none of them are there."
Her descendants: the house of Yoseyf, which left the covenant. The Aramaic targum confirms the interpretation that "none of them are here" refers to the House of Israel (the ten tribes, often called Yoseyf; see note on v. 19) being in exile. But it adds that the lament will be like Yirmeyahu's when Nebuzaradan, chief of the killers, sent him with a dirge from Ramah. It substitutes Yerushalayim for Rachel. Ramah is in the territory of Binyamin, another of her sons, and is Shmuel the prophet's birthplace and the site of his tomb. But Matithyahu 2:18 quotes this verse in regard to the infant boys in Beyth-Lechem killed in Herod's attempt to snuff out Yahshua's life. Ramah is on the far side of Yerushalayim and the outcry would have to be miraculously loud to reach so far. There was another Ramah not far from Beyth-Lechem, yet both were in Yehudah, which is not the tribal land of either of Rachel's sons, so what is the connection? Rachel was buried at Beyth-Lechem, "while there was still some ways to go to Efrath". (Gen. 35:16) Efrath (which means "fruitfulness") links us to the name Efrayim, which means "doubly fruitful", but this fulfillment was still a long way off as well. (30:24) Ramah was indeed in the hills of Efrayim, son of Yoseyf (1 Shmuel 1:1). And Efrayim led the straying of the "Lost Sheep of the House of Israel" (cf. 10:6; Yirmeyahu 50:6), whom Yahshua specifically had come to regather from among the nations--which is specifically the context of the verses in this immediate context! (Compare Yeshayahu/Isaiah 49:20ff; 54:1-10) She is told to stop weeping, because they will return--thanks to the accomplishment of the one male infant who survived this massacre...
15. YHWH says this: "Withdraw your voice from weeping, and your eyes from [shedding] tears, because there is reward for your labor," declares YHWH, "and they will return from the land of an enemy!
16. "Moreover, there is hope for your posterity," declares YHWH, "[in that] your descendants will return to their territory.
17. "I have indeed heard Efrayim bemoaning himself: 'You have disciplined me severely, and I was corrected, like an untrained bull-calf. Turn me back, and I will return, because you are YHWH, my Elohim,
18. "'since after I had turned away, I [made myself] regret [it], and after it was revealed to me, I slapped my thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth."
After I had turned away: LXX, after my captivity. Slapped my thigh: or, euphemistically, clapped my hands over my loins in shame)--i.e., recognizing that I had again become uncircumcised (without covenant).
19. "Isn't Efrayim a precious son to Me [after all? Isn't he] a pleasing child? Because as often as I have threatened him, still I keep recalling him to mind. Because of this, my emotions are stirred up for him; I will by all means have deep compassion on him," declares YHWH.
Efrayim: a shorthand for the Northern Kingdom, since Yarav'am, its leader in secession, was from this tribe. Pleasing: or, delightful. As often as I have threatened him: or, spoken against him. LXX, because My words are in Him... therefore I made haste to help him. Since well before Yahshua's birth, "The Prodigal Son" was the name of this haftarah (passage used to teach a part of the Torah when it was forbidden by Gentile rulers to teach Torah). Indeed, Efrayim, Yaaqov's youngest son (actually his grandson, but adopted, along with his brother, into Yoseyf's place), went far away from YHWH among the Gentiles and wasted his inheritance. In the first part of our return, we did think of ourselves as only spectators, glad to participate in practices we knew belonged to Yehudah. But then our Father revealed to us that we were actually part of the household of Israel as well.
20. Set up signposts for yourself; direct yourself by marking out guideposts. Set your heart on the highway, the same way by which you departed. Return, O virgin of Israel! Return to your cities--these ones!
LXX: Prepare yourself, O Tzion; execute vengeance. Highway: compare Yeshayahu 35:8.
21. How long will you gad about, you daughter of backsliding? Because YHWH has created something new in the Land--a female will encircle a warrior!
Now in Hebrew weddings the bride encircles the groom seven times to "build a wall" around him. LXX, How long, O disgraced daughter, will you turn away? For YHWH has created safety for a new plantation; men will go about in safety. The Aramaic targum identifies the "new thing" He does as the House of Israel pursuing the Torah. Backsliding: The House of Israel could have gone back to the Land after the Assyrian empire ended, and some indeed did, but then left again. Perhaps we could take it even further and say that since the "daughter" is delaying too long, YHWH will actually let a man give birth, for the word for female here really means "pierced one" (as is the case in sexual terms) and Y'shua was indeed pierced. He will "surround" (bind) the strong man (Mark 3:27). But the encircling may be in terms of the birth canal (30:6), this time giving birth to a full-grown man, ready for war. Ovadyah 18 and Yehezqel 37 show that the House of Israel (Yoseyf) is to be a great army.
22. This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, has said: "Again they will say this word in the Land of Yehudah and in its cities, when I bring back their captives: 'May YHWH bless you, O home of what is right [and normal], O mountain of [what is] set apart!'
Compare Yeshayahu 26:1, 2--a song for Yom Teruah (the Day of a Trumpet-blast).
23. "And in unity Yehudah and all its cities will dwell in it--[both] those who work the land and those who lead flocks about,
24. "because I have caused the exhausted soul to drink its fill, and have replenished every soul that had grown faint."
25. Upon this, I woke up and was seeing [clearly], and my sleep had been pleasant to me!
Pleasant: or, sweet. This may be an allusion also to the resurrection.
26. "Indeed, the days are coming," declares YHWH, "when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah with the seed of Adam and the seed of animal[s].
27. "And it will come about [that] just as I have remained alert to uproot them and to tear them down and to overthrow them and to make them get lost and to cause them injury, in the same way I will stay alert to rebuild them and to establish them," declares YHWH.
28. "In those days they will never again say, 'The parents have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'
Set on edge: or dulled, made blunt (by the grinding). The Aramaic interprets this as the children being punished for their fathers' sins. We will no longer be held accountable for what our ancestors did wrong. (We have been paying for what they did 2,730 years ago.) YHWH has mercy, but there is also now no room for excuses; we will also not get away with our own sins:
29. "Rather, each one will die in his own perversity; every man who eats a sour grape, his own teeth will be set on edge.
30. "Indeed, the days are coming," declares YHWH, "when I will cut a renewed covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah--
31. "not like the covenant that I cut with their ancestors in the day [when] I held firmly to their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, since they violated My covenant, though I fulfilled the role of a husband to them," declares YHWH,
Not like: in that "they violated it" (broke it in two, split or cracked it--as Moshe did with the physical tablets on which YHWH had written it, in perfect symbolism of what they had done). The Aramaic interprets "violated" as "changed"--the very thing the Northern Kingdom, after being exiled and even after being introduced to Yahshua, tried to claim YHWH had done! In all other ways, a renewed covenant must be as much like the original as possible, with only minor adjustments to reflect a change that may have taken place in the situation of one party or the other since the first was made. Though I fulfilled... : LXX, and I disregarded them.
32. "because this is the covenant that I will cut with the House of Israel after those days," declares YHWH: "I will set My instruction in their innermost parts, and on their heart I will write it, and I will come to be an Elohim for them, and they will become a people for Me!
Or, I will put My Torah right in their midst [where they draw near]. This does not mean we will obey like robots; something comes to be written on our hearts by constant meditation on it and habitual rehearsing it in our minds until it becomes second nature. The Hebrew word for "write" can mean "engrave with a chisel"--a painful process! But what is on our hearts is not easily forgotten (compare Ps. 119:11); it is certainly not something we can ignore and consider dead and gone! When Yahshua rules with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9), there will be no option but to learn His Torah. (Zech. 14:18)
33. "And each [one] will no longer teach his fellow [citizen] or [each] man his brother, saying, 'Get acquainted with YHWH!' because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares YHWH, "because I will forgive their crookedness, and their missings-of-the-target I will never remember again!"
Yahshua Himself will be living among us. We will be trained to know YHWH. No one will be able to say, like Pharaoh, "Who is this YHWH?"
34. This is what YHWH says--[the One] who provides the sun to be a light by day and the moon and the stars for light at night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--YHWH [Master] of Armies is His Name:
Who stirs up: alt., who gives rest to the sea when its waves roar (Aramaic, rebuking the sea, as He did through Yahshua, Mark 4:39), or, who divides the sea when its waves roar (as He did through Moshe, Ex. 14).
35. "If those laws [of nature] cease [to operate] from before Me," declares YHWH, "the seed of Israel too will stop being a nation before Me for all time."
Laws: set patterns, prescribed tasks and limits, enactments. Cease: recede, depart, be removed. Seed is a very physical thing just like these natural laws. Thus despite Israel's falling away as a recognizable nation, we cannot just spiritualize it away and say someone else has replaced them! We must trust His promise and deduce that (most of) those who have accepted the Messiah's kingship, from whatever part of the world they come, are actually (at least in part) Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov's physical descendants as well.
36. This is what YHWH says: "If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth beneath can be searched out, [then] I will also reject the seed of Israel on account of all they have done," declares YHWH.
Measured: LXX, raised to a great height. Searched out: or investigated, found, thoroughly examined; LXX, sunk lower.
37. "Indeed, days are coming," declares YHWH, "when the city belonging to YHWH will be rebuilt, from the Tower of Chanan'el, to the Gate of the Corner,
Gate of the corner: At the site of today's Jaffa Gate on the west side--a reparation of the part of the wall destroyed as part of our war between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. (2 Kings 14:13; compare Nehemyah 3; Zech. 14:10 as the rebuilding began.)
39. "and the measuring line will proceed from in front of it still further to the [front of the] hill of Garev, then turn toward Goath
Turn toward Goath (the pool of lowing calves): LXX, be compassed with a circular wall of choice stones.
40. "and the whole Valley of the Corpses and the Ashes, and all the fields up to the Wadi Qidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, will be set apart unto YHWH. It will never again be torn up or completely overthrown, into eternity."
Valley of the Corpses: Aramaic adds, of the camp where the Assyrians fell. Corner Gate: Aram. Adds, the place of the king's race-course. All of these sites are toward the north and west from the city that stood in Yirmyahu's day. Custance notes that at that time it seemed to be growing toward the south, while the Valley of Dead Bodies, etc., wouldn't have appeared a likely direction to expand. But from Roman times onward, 700 years later, it began growing toward the north. The building of the city from the tower of Chanan'el (northwest of the Temple) to the Corner Gate was completed by Yahshua's day. In modern days, the development has continued in exactly the order prophesied here, and the main business district is right in this area. Never again: "The city will be rebuilt as a permanent structure" is part of the liturgy welcoming the Sabbath, which foreshadows this Messianic Kingdom.
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Chapters 32-37
CHAPTER 32
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH in the tenth year of Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah (which was the eighteenth year of Nevukhadretzar,
2. because at that time the king of Bavel's force had raised a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim, and Yirmeyahu the prophet was being held in the court of the prison-warden that was in the house of the king of Yehudah,
Court of the prison-warden: not the dungeon itself, as he was from an important house in Israel, but in custody nonetheless.
3. since Tzidqiyahu the king of Yehudah had locked him up, saying, "Why do you prophesy, 'This is what YHWH says: "Here I am, giving this city into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he will capture it,
4. "'"and Tzidqiyahu the king of Yehudah will not escape from the hand of the Khasdim, but will certainly be handed over to the king of Bavel, and he will speak with him mouth to mouth and see him eye to eye,
5. "'"and he will lead Tzidqiyahu away [to] Bavel, and he will be there until I need him," declares YHWH. "Though you fight against the Khasdim, you will not be successful"'?")
Need him: or visit him, call him to account, or attend to him.
6. So Yirmiyahu said, "The word of YHWH came to me, saying,
7. "'Behold, Chanam'el, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth for yourself, because the right of redemption to buy it is yours."'"
Chanam'el means "YHWH has shown favor", apparently being a variation on Chanan'el. Though Levites were not to have a regular inheritance in a particular region like other Israelites, they were able to own a limited amount of land around the cities in which they were spread throughout the Land to serve all Israel.
8. And Chanam'el, the son of my uncle, did come to the court of the prison-warden according to YHWH's promise, and said, "Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, which is in the territory of Binyamin, because the right of inheritance and redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself!" Then I knew that this had been YHWH's word.
The right...of redemption is yours: LXX, you are the elder. Then I knew: after it came to pass. Apparently he had some doubt as to whether he was truly hearing from YHWH, because it made no sense to buy property in a land that was about to be taken away by a foreign king! In this case, as with Y'shua, only someone in prison (Yeshayahu 53:8) was able to perform the duty of a kinsman-redeemer.
9. So I went ahead and bought the field from Chanam'el, my uncle's son that was at Anathoth, and weighed out the payment for him--seventeen sheqels of silver.
Seventeen sheqels: literally, seven sheqels and ten. The Aramaic interprets it as seven units of one currency and ten of another.
10. Then I recorded it in a register and affixed a seal, and had witnesses affirm that I was weighing out the money in the scales,
Register: or simply, book or scroll; Aramaic, bond.
11. then took the certificate of purchase that was sealed [according to] the commandment and the prescribed ordinance as well as the unsealed [copy],
12. and gave the certificate of purchase to Barukh, the son of Neriyah, the son of Machaseyah in the sight of Chanam'el, my uncle's [son] and in the sight of the witnesses who had signed the certificate of purchase in the sight of all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison-warden.
Barukh means "blessed". Neriyah means "lamp of YHWH". Machaseyah means "YHWH is a refuge", so his whole line's names have positive meanings.
13. And I gave orders to Barukh in their sight, saying,
14. "This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'ake these documents of this certificate of purchase (both the sealed and this unsealed scroll) and put them in an earthenware vessel so that they can endure many,
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the power may be far more from Elohim than from ourselves." (2 Cor. 4:7) This relates to verse 17 below. The treasure, in part, is shown here to be our title-deed to an inheritance in His Land! We are the vessels in which He has placed His words, written on our hearts.
15. "'because this is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this Land.'"
Yirmeyahu's purchase was symbolic of this fact. Anathoth, the place he bought his field, means "answers to prayer".
16. Now after I had given the certificate of purchase to Barukh, the son of Neriyah, I prayed to YHWH, saying,
17. "Oh, Adonai YHWH! Indeed You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm, and nothing is beyond Your reach--
18. "[You] who exercise lovingkindness for thousands and who repays the guilt of fathers into the lap of their sons after them--the great, the champion El; YHWH [Master] of Armies is His Name,
Their sons after them: Aramaic, on the sons when they go on to commit sins after them.
19. "large in purpose and abounding in effect, You whose eyes are open over all the ways of the sons of Adam, to give to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his practices,
Ways: i.e., habits, moral character. Though the New Testament often upholds this viewpoint, many have taken YHWH's amnesty for our ancestors' rebellion to mean we can do anything we want with impunity just because we once asked Him for mercy! But the principle remains that what we put our energy into multiplies; we can empower the spirits either for benefit or for evil. Our motives for our deeds will also affect their fruit, as will their timeliness; if we are too late in doing what is right, the fruit will also be spoiled or forfeited.
20. "who has put distinguishing signs and wonders in place in the land of Egypt until this day, and in Israel and in Adam you have made a name for yourself as [it is] this day,
In Adam: or, among men.
21. "and have brought Your people Israel out from the land of Egypt with distinguishing signs and with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great deeds that inspire awe.
22. "You also gave them this Land, which you had promised their ancestors with an oath to give to them--a Land gushing with milk and honey.
23. "But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your instructions; they have not done all that You commanded them to do, so You have caused all this trouble to come upon them.
Voice: demonstrated in the sound of the shofar heard at Mt. Sinai, signifying the need to wake up and faithfully guard the instructions He gave there, but they remained asleep even when they arrived in the Promised Land, and did not keep their marriage vows made at Sinai.
24. "Look [at] the siege-mounds! They have come up to the city to capture it, and the city is turned over into the hand of the Khasdim, who are fighting against it, due to the presence of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what You threatened has come about; indeed [I am] looking at it!
25. "Yet You have told me, O Adonai YHWH, 'Buy the field for yourself with silver, and have witnesses affirm [it]'--when the city has [already] been given into the hand of the Khasdim!"
26. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
27. "Behold, I am YHWH, the Elohim of all flesh! Is there anything that is out of My reach?"
28. Therefore, this is what YHWH says: "Here I am, turning this city over into the hand of the Khasdim (that is, into the hand of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel), and he will capture it.
29. "Then the Khasdim, who are fighting against this city will come in and set fire to this city and burn it as well as the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Ba'al and poured out libations to other elohim, for the purpose of provoking Me to anger,
30. "because the sons of Israel and the sons of Yehudah have only been doing what is evil in My eyes since their youth, because the sons of Israel are just provoking Me to anger with the undertakings of their hands!" declares YHWH,
31. "for to Me this city has been after My anger and after My rage since the day they built it until this day, to cause [Me] to take it away from in front of My face,
32. "on [account of] the evil that the sons of Israel and the sons of Yehudah have done to provoke Me to anger--they themselves, their kings, their princes, their priests and their prophets, as well as [each] man of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.
33. "Moreover, they have turned the back to Me and not the face, when I have been teaching them (rising up early and teaching, yet none of them listens to receive correction).
34. "Rather, they put their disgustingly filthy things in the House that was called by My Name, to defile it!
Was called: In this condition, He wants no association with it, yet He claims the right to better treatment there. Israel is acting like the Greeks who brought a swine onto the Temple altar. The same happened once the Messianic community was co-opted by the institutional Church and much paganism was brought in.
35. "Also, they have started building the cultic platforms of Ba'al in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech--[something] that I never commanded! It never even entered My mind to [have them] do this abhorrent thing for the sake of inducing Yehudah to sin!
Molech means "the one who reigns"--the name of a pagan deity. The Valley of the Son of Hinnom is immediately south and west of Yerushalayim.
36. "So now, therefore, this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says to this city which you say is turned over into the hand of the king of Bavel by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague:
37. "'Here I am, collecting them [back] out of all the countries into which I had banished them in My anger and My heated wrath and immense, crashing fury, and I will bring them back to this place and cause them to settle down to [a sense of] safety.
38. "'And they will become My people, and I will come to serve as an Elohim to them,
39. "'and I will give them one heart and a unified manner of life, to reverence Me for all time for their benefit and [that of] their children after them,
Aramaic, one heart and one way to fear Me... We will no longer be each going in our own direction, trying to find His will as individuals, but will be carrying it out together as one unit.
40. "'and I will cut for them an everlasting covenant [in] which I will not turn away from backing them in order to make things right for them, and I will put [fearful] respect [for] Myself in their hearts to keep them from turning aside from Me.
41. 'And I will be [more than] glad to do what is beneficial to them, and I truly will plant them in this Land with all [of] My heart and with all [of] My soul!'
With all My heart: literally, in all [of] My heart.
42. "Because this is what YHWH says: 'Just as I have brought on this nation all this intense adversity, I am likewise bringing on them all the benefit that I have promised them.
43. "'Fields will indeed be bought in this Land of which [many of] you are saying, "It is desolate since there is not a man or a beast; it has been turned over into the hand of the Khasdim."
44. "'Fields will be bought with silver and record it in the register and seal them up and have witnesses affirm [it] in the territory of Binyamin and in the environs of Yerushalayim and in the cities of Yehudah and in the cities of the mountainous region and in the cities of the Sh'felah, and in the cities of the Negev, because I will cause their captives to return,' declares YHWH."
Territory of Binyamin: where part of the Temple complex stood, straddling the border with Yehudah's. Sh'felah: the lowland (literally, the falling-off, the transition between the mountains and the coastal plain). Negev: the large desert in southern Israel. Captives: Aramaic, exiles.
CHAPTER 33
1. Then a word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH another time, while he was still locked up in the court of the prison-warden, saying,
2. "Thus says YHWH, her Maker, who fashioned her [in such a way as to] make her stable--YHWH is His Name:
3. "'Call out to Me and I will respond to you, and make known to you great and unattainable things with which you are not familiar,'
Unattainable things: inaccessible, inscrutable mysteries that have been secreted away beyond our reach.
4. "because this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has said about the houses of this city and the homes of the kings of Yehudah--those [that are] being torn down to [be used] against the siege-mounds and against the sword:
Siege-mounds: literally, those that are raised up. The Aramaic clarifies that the stones from the houses were being used to strengthen the wall so it could not be breached.
5. "'They are coming to fight the Khasdim, but will cause them to fill them up with the corpses of human beings that I have struck down in My anger and My heated wrath and on account of whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.
I.e., those who are trying to defend the city will be buried in the houses they are dismantling to make into a barricade against a battering ram. (Compare Y'hoshua 6:26; 2 Kings 23:14.) Hidden My face: Aramaic, taken up My Sh'kinah (dwelling presence).
6. "'Behold, I am raising her back to soundness and health, and will [certainly] restore her to favor and disclose to them an abundance of peace and truth,
7. "'and I will bring back the captives of Yehudah and the captives of Israel, and will rebuild them as at the earliest [time].
The captives of Israel (the northern kingdom) had already been gone from the Land for over a century, yet Yirmeyahu prophesies of their return as well. This has never yet taken place in its fullness. Indeed, some Orthodox Jews refuse to return to the Land until the Messiah brigs the other tribes as well. But He began to do so 2,000 years ago, and this focus was lost by His followers until very recently.
8. "'Then I will cleanse them from their guilt [by] which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon [them] for all their perversities [by] which they have forfeited Me and rebelled against Me,
Forfeited Me: another meaning of the word for committing sin.
9. "'and it will become for Me a name of rejoicing, for praise and splendor to all the nations of the earth who will hear of all the prosperity that I Myself will bring about for them, and they will be in awe and quiver from excitement over all the prosperity and total well-being that I will bring about for her.'
10. "This is what YHWH says: 'In this place about which you are saying, "It is a wasteland, since there is not a man or a beast [in it]," there will again be heard
11. "'a voice of joy and a voice of gladness, a voice of a bridegroom, and a voice of a bride, a voice of those who say, "Thank YHWH, [Master] of Armies, because YHWH is beneficent, since His lovingkindness [endures] forever!", who bring thanks [to the] House of YHWH--because I will bring back the Land's captives as in the earliest [times], says YHWH.
Thank YHWH, because...: This is a quote from numerous psalms of David. Bring thanks: or thank-offerings. These are a specific type of offering brought to the Temple--a lamb voluntarily given as a token of one's thanks for an extraordinary kindness YHWH has shown. It must be eaten within the Temple complex within two days, so it is shared with any who are willing to come hear the story of what YHWH has done. (Lev. 7:12; 22:29) Doing whatever remnant of this we can do without the Temple is an integral part of our return, and only our love for the Babylonian system or wrongly-placed loyalties stand in the way.
12. "Thus says YHWH [Master] of Armies: 'Again in this place--the "wasteland" since there is not a man or beast--and in its cities, there will be an abode of shepherds who cause their flocks to stretch out.
An abode of shepherds: usually an idiom for a depopulated place (Tyndale), but this time Yerushalayim will be "home" to those who truly concern themselves with bringing breadth to YHWH's flocks in the present age.
13. "'In the cities of the mountainous region, in the cities of the Sh'felah, the cities of the Negev, in the territory of Binyamin, in the environs of Yerushalayim, and in the cities of Yehudah, the flock will again pass over the hand of the one who counts them,' declares YHWH.
Pass over the hand of the one who counts them: to make sure all were present when entering the fold, but also to determine what one's tithe should be. (Lev. 27:32) interpreted in Aramaic as "eagerly pursue the words of the Messiah."
14. "'Indeed, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when I will carry out the pleasant word that I have spoken to the House of Israel and to the House of Yehudah.
15. "'In those days and at that time, I will cause a branch of righteousness to sprout for David, and He will bring about justice and righteousness in the Land.
Branch: an offshoot from David, i.e., the Messiah. In the Land: or, on the earth.
16. "'In those days Yehudah will be liberated and Yerushalayim will settle down to [carefree] safety, and this is what they will call her: "YHWH is our Righteousness,"'
Liberated: from the occupying forces of the world government set up perhaps as "peacekeepers". Call her: compare 23:5, 6, where the same title is given to the Branch mentioned both there and here. The city, which in Hebrew is a feminine noun, will be called by the same name as her bridegroom, for the people who make up the city will be married to Yahshua as His bride.
17. "because this is what YHWH says: 'The one sitting on the throne of the House of Israel on David's behalf will never be cut off .
House of Israel: Here, the entire reunited nation.
18. "'Nor for the Levitical priests will there ever fail from before My face to be a man causing ascending-offerings to rise, making contributions smoke with incense, or carrying out a slaughter for all time.'"
A slaughter for all time: Even now when there is no physical Temple, as the book of Hebrews details, Yahshua has served as a "slaughter for all time".
19. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
20. "This is what YHWH says: 'If you can annul My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, so that day and night would be kept from coming at their proper time,
21. "'then My covenant with My servant David can be annulled as well, so that he would not have a son reigning on his throne--or with the Levites who officiate [as priests], My ministering [servants].
This verse should have precluded many interpretations of the New Testament, but still many have tried to claim His earlier covenants have been annulled.
22. "'Just as the armies of heaven cannot be counted, nor can the sand of the sea be measured, so will I increase the offspring of David and the Levites who wait on Me.'"
Armies: or hosts, i.e., the stars. Measured: Aramaic, weighed.
23. Furthermore, the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
24. "Haven't you noticed what this people [group] is saying? [And] I quote: 'Both families that YHWH chose, He has rejected!' They also treat My people with contempt, not allowing them to be a nation in their presence any longer!
Both families: i.e., that of David, the ruling line, and that of Aharon, the priestly lineage. My people: Israel as a whole, whether this means spurning the Jews, whom they identified as the only descendants of Yaaqov, or refusing to consider the many "saved" individuals to be the literal nation of Israel, though that is who they were all along. Not allowing: like Pharaoh; perhaps we will receive similar opposition from leaders of those Israelites who do not wish to return to being one people, and will try not to allow the rest of us to do so.
25. "This is what YHWH says: 'If the covenant with day and night is not Mine, and I have not set in place the prescribed patterns of heaven and earth,
26. 'then I can also reject the seed of Yaaqov and of My servant David, and not take from his seed those who govern the seed of Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov, because I will bring their captives back and have compassion on them!'"
CHAPTER 34
[588-587 B.C.E.]
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH when Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel and its whole army and all the kingdoms of earth from the rule of his hands, and all ethnic groups, made war on Yerushalayim and on all her cities:
2. "Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel: 'Go and speak to Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, and tell him, "This is what YHWH says: 'Indeed, I am handing this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it with fire.
3. "'"'Nor will you escape from his hand, because you will certainly be captured and delivered into his hand. And your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Bavel, and his mouth will speak with your mouth, and you will go to Bavel.
4. "'"'But listen to the word of YHWH, O Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah! This is what YHWH says about you: you will not die by the sword.
5. "'"'You will die in peace, and like the burning [of incense] for your ancestors, the former kings who came before you, so they will burn [incense] for you, and wail for you, "Alas, master!", because I have spoken the word,' declares YHWH."'"
6. (Now Yirmeyahu the prophet said all these things to Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, in Yerushalayim,
7. when the king of Bavel's army was making war on Yerushalayim and on all the cities of Yehudah that were left--against Lakhish and against Azeqah, because these [alone] were the ones that remained of the fortified cities among the cities of Yehudah.
Lakhish and Azeqah were the last and strongest of a chain of defense cities built along the Sh'felah (foothills) to withstand an Egyptian attack on Yerushalayim. Lakhish means "invincible"; it was nearly so, having two walls, once of them 6 meters thick. But YHWH had let it fall once before because it had opened the door for sin in the Land. (Micha 1:13) That time He spared Yerushalayim because of Hizqiyahu's prayers, but this time He would not. Azeqah is quite close to where David killed Golyath. Letters have been found from this specific time confirming that all the other fortress-cities that defended Yerushalayim had been snuffed out, and that the writers were looking for the light-signal from Lakhish because the light had already gone out at Azeqah.
8. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH after King Tzidqiyahu had cut a covenant with all the people who were in Yerushalayim, to proclaim liberty to them--
Proclaim liberty: the command given in Lev. 25:10 in regard to the 50th year. Perhaps the king, knowing that the reason for the prophesied captivity was the failure to give the land its rest every seventh year, was trying a last-ditch effort to evade capture by obeying another law that had to do with the seventh-year release. (v. 14)
9. for each man to let his male or female slave (a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman) go free, so that [each] man among them should avoid enslaving his brother [who was] a Jew.
10. And all the leaders obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant (for each man to let his male slave or his female slave go free so that they would never again work [any from] among them as slaves) also obeyed and set them free.
11. But afterward they actually turned around and made the male and female slaves whom they had set free come back, and forced them to serve as slaves and maidservants.
The laws of slavery in Israel are to benefit the slave (to enable him to get out of debt) more than to benefit the slaveholder. This action proves that they had not understood this principle at all. When the pressure was off (v. 21), they went back on their word. There had to be societal support for the slaves being freed; they could not just leave on their own, though YHWH had given them the right to go free at this time.
12. So the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying,
13. "This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'I Myself cut a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of Egypt, out of the household of slaves, saying,
14. "'"From the termination of seven years, each man must let his brother go--[any] Hebrew who has been sold to him. When he has served you six years, you must let him go free from being with you." [Deut. 15:12] Yet your ancestors neither obeyed to Me nor held out their ear.
Termination: or border; the context would seem to indicate the beginning. Been sold: or, sold himself (usually done as a way to pay a debt). Held out their ear: at least tried to understand what He was asking of them, if they were not sure what He meant.
15. "'Now today you had come back and done what is right in My eyes by [each] man issuing a proclamation of liberty to his fellow and cutting a covenant before Me in the House that is called by My Name,
16. "'but [then] you retracted and are profaning My Name and each [of you is] making each slave or maidservant whom you had set free to themselves come back and is forcing them to serve as slaves and maidservants.
To themselves: LXX, at their own disposal; Aramaic, in respect of their lives.
17. "'Therefore, this is what YHWH says: "You have not obeyed Me by each man proclaiming liberty for his fellow. [So] here I am proclaiming liberty for you," declares YHWH--"to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine, and I have made you a cause for trembling to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Note YHWH's sarcasm toward those who had proven they did not love their neighbors. The Northern Kingdom, too, proclaimed the wrong type of freedom (from Torah instead of from sin and tyranny), and for a time YHWH gave us up to our desires. Made you a cause for trembling: LXX, given you up to dispersion.
18. "'"And I will hand over the men who have crossed [the line from] My covenant--who have not upheld the word of the covenant that they have cut before Me (the bull-calf that they cut in two and passed between its pieces)--
Passed between its pieces: a traditional way of expressing the thought, "May the same be done to me if I do not keep my side of the agreement." The nation of Israel was indeed cut in two when we did not keep the covenant we had made with YHWH. The covenant referred to here is one of agreeing to obey an existing covenant that had been broken. (v. 8)
19. "'"the leaders of Yehudah and the leaders of Yerushalayim, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the Land who passed between the pieces of the bull-calf--
20. "'"indeed, I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who are seeking their life, and their corpses will come to serve as food for the fowls of the sky and for the beasts of the earth!
21. "'"Then I will hand over Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, and his princes to their enemies and those who are seeking their life--that is, to the army of the king of Bavel, who is withdrawing from being upon you.
Withdrawing: the history of this period is recounted in 2 Chron. 36:4-17, where we are told that Nevukhadretzar sent into exile those who tried to escape from him.
22. "'"Here I am giving them orders," declares YHWH. "I have given them permission to come back to this city, and they will make war on her, and capture her, and burn her with fire. I will also make the cities of Yehudah a wasteland because of having no inhabitant."'"
CHAPTER 35
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH in the days of Yehoyaqim, son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah:
2. "Walk to the house of the Rekhavites and speak with them, and bring them into one of the chambers of the House of YHWH, and offer them wine to drink."
Rekhavites: possibly from the tribe of Binyamin (2 Shmuel 4:2), possibly descendants of Chemath the Qeynite (1 Chron. 2:55). Chambers: very large rooms or halls within the Temple complex. Notice the flattery by which Yirmeyahu tested the resolve of this clan.
3. So I fetched Ya'azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu the son of Khabatzinyah and all his brothers and all his children and the whole household of the Rekhavites,
He brought the whole family as part of the test, to see whether the weakest link might give in. Ya'azanyah means "YHWH gives ear". Yirmeyahu (not the prophet) means "YHWH has raised up". Khabatzinyah appears to mean "brightness of YHWH" or "strong fragrance of YHWH".
4. and I brought them into the House of YHWH--into the Chamber of the sons of Chanan the son of Yigdalyahu, the man of Elohim, which was beside the Chamber of the Overseers, which was above the Chamber of Ma'aseyahu the son of Shallum, who guards the threshold.
This shows that some people actually had permanent dwelling places in the complex of Shlomo's Temple; this was not the case in the second Temple period. Chanan means "he has shown favor"; Yigdalyahu means "Magnified by YHWH". Ma'aseyahu means "work of YHWH"; Shallum means "payback".
5. Then I set jars full of wine and cups in front of the household of the Rekhavites, and told them, "Drink [some] wine!"
6. But they said, "We should not drink wine, because Yonadav the son of Rekhav our ancestor placed [strict] orders over us, saying, 'You must not drink wine--neither you nor your descendants forever,
Yonadav means "YHWH is generous". Rekhav means "one who mounts up and rides", or possibly, "one who reduces demands". Yet his descendants proved that this is not what they were! Yonadav's story of heroism against the worshippers of Ba'al with Yehu is told in 2 Kings 10:15ff.
7. "'nor may you build houses or sow seed or plant a vineyard, nor shall you own anything, because you must dwell in tents all your days, so that you may live many days on the ground upon which you are sojourning.'
This was a family that could not violate the laws of the seventh year (as the rest of the nation had, ch. 34) since they had neither houses for slaves to work in nor fields to leave fallow.
8. "So we have obeyed the voice of Y'honadav, the son of our ancestor Rekhav, for all that he ordered us--to avoid drinking wine all of our days (we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters),
Y'honadav: the full version of the name shortened to Yonadav in vv. 6 and 10. YHWH's name is more discernible in the longer form.
9. "nor to build houses for ourselves to dwell in, and we own no vineyard or field or seed.
10. "Rather, we have been living in tents and have been obedient and done everything just as Yonadav our ancestor ordered us [to].
11. "But [what] happened [was that] when Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, came up against the Land, we said, 'Come on, let's go to Yerushalayim, [to get] away from where the army of the Khasdim and the army of Aram are.' That is why we have been staying in Yerushalayim."
12. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
13. "This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Go and say to the man of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, "Won't you receive correction, to obey My words?", declares YHWH.
14. "'"The words of Y'honadav, son of Rekhav, in which he ordered his descendants not to drink wine, are being upheld, and to this day they have not drunk [any], because they have been obeying their father's order. Yet I Myself have spoken to you--getting up early to say [it]--but you have not listened to Me.
If they have so meticulously obeyed the words of a mere man, how much more should they have obeyed YHWH's own commands? Wine is usually an integral part of the celebration of the Sabbath and quite allowable at His festivals (Deut. 14:26) unless one is a Nazirite (Num. 6:3) or a priest on active duty (Lev. 10:9). But though YHWH Himself had been the one to give the command through His prophet, these people still stuck with an agreement they had made with their ancestor. Of all the times they could have made an excuse! This was the Lawgiver of lawgivers telling them what they were free to do. Yet they paid homage to the law that was closest to them, and YHWH both honored and commended this. "No scripture is of private interpretation." (2 Kefa/Peter 1:20-21) In Israel there must be a protocol of authority structure for interpersonal dealings to flow smoothly. Just because the Torah allows something does not mean an individual may choose his own way. The lowest standard allowed is that of the household (extended family ruled by a patriarch), and from there it proceeds upward to the captains of tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands. (Ex. 18:21-25)
15. "'"I have also been sending you My prophets--getting up early and sending [them]--to say, 'Turn around, please! Each [of you turn back] from the harmful direction he [is going in], make your practices right, and no [longer] go after other elohim to serve them, and remain on the ground that I have given to you and your ancestors.' But you have not offered your ear or listened to Me.
16. "'"Because the descendants of Y'honadav the son of Rekhav have upheld the command of their ancestor, but this people has not obeyed Me,
17. "'"therefore, thus says YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing to Yehudah and to all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim all that trouble that I have threatened against them, because I spoke to them, but they would not listen, and I have been calling to them, but they have not responded."'"
18. But to the House of the Rekhavites, Yirmeyahu said, "Thus says YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel: 'On account of the fact that you have consented to a command of Y'honadav your ancestor, and have kept all his orders and done everything just as he commanded you,
19. "'therefore this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has said: "For Yonadav, never will a man be cut off [from] standing before Me for all time."'"
Standing before Me: Aramaic, ministering before Me. For all time: literally, for all days; LXX, while the earth remains. Thus at least one of his male descendants is alive today! The same type of promise was given conditionally to David (and Shlomo) in 1 Kings 2:4, and now it was being rescinded because their descendants did not keep their obligations. But it was being transferred to these "bedouins" who were loyal to their own household.
CHAPTER 36
1. Now in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim, son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, what took place is that this word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH:
2. "Take for yourself an accounting-scroll and write in it all the words that I have said to you about Israel and about Yehudah and about all the nations since the day I spoke to you--from the days of Yoshiyahu up until this day.
3. "Maybe the House of Yehudah will realize all the trouble I plan to cause for them, so that they may each turn away from his wicked way, and I can forgive their guilt and their sin."
So that I can: YHWH limits Himself to a particular order. Their sin: What He is punishing is their collective sin, but it is made up of the sins of individuals.
4. So Yirmeyahu called for Barukh, the son of Neriyah, and Barukh wrote from Yirmeyahu's dictation all of YHWH's words that He had said to him on an accounting-scroll.
Dictation: literally, mouth.
5. Then Yirmeyahu gave Barukh orders, saying, "I am locked up; I am unable to go to the House of YHWH,
6. "so you go and read in the scroll the words of YHWH that you have written from my dictation, in the hearing of the people in the House of YHWH on the day of fasting, and also read them in the hearing of any [from] Yehudah who come from their cities.
7. "Maybe their plea for consideration will alight in YHWH's presence, and maybe [each] man will repent of the evil direction [in which] he [is going], because the anger and burning rage with which YHWH has threatened this people."
Alight: literally, fall. We must lower ourselves and ask Him even to allow us to repent, because repentance, too, is something He must grant us before we can experience it. The first step toward breaking down the barrier with Him is to say, "I am guilty."
8. So Barukh, the son of Neriyah, carried out everything about which Yirmeyahu had given him orders (to read YHWH's words in the book in the House of YHWH).
9. Then what came about in the fifth year of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, [was that] in the ninth month all the people in Yerushalayim and all the people who had come from the cities of Yehudah to Yerushalayim proclaimed a fast,
The fifth year: a year (or at least nine months) later than the events at the beginning of the chapter. The ninth month: often a time when other nations warred against Israel, e.g., the Greeks in the days of the Maccabees.
10. and in the House of YHWH (in the Chamber of Gemaryahu the son of Shafan the scribe, in the highest courtyard of the entrance to the new gate of the House of YHWH), Barukh read the words of Yirmeyahu in the book in the hearing of all the people.
11. When Michayahu the son of Gemaryahu the son of Shafan heard all the words of YHWH from within the book,
Michayahu means "Who is like YHWH?"
12. he then went down [to] the king's house over the scribes' chamber, and there were all the leaders, sitting down: Elishama the scribe, along with Delayahu the son of Shema'yahu, Elnathan the son of Akhbor, Gemaryahu the son of Shafan, Tzidqiyahu the son of Chananyahu and all the [other] leaders.
Leaders: or, princes. Elishama means "My Elohim has heard". Delayahu means "YHWH has drawn up". Shema'yahu means "YHWH has listened". Gemaryahu means "YHWH has completed (His accomplishment)". Shafan means "rock hyrax". Tzidqiyahu means "YHWH is my righteousness". Chananyahu means "YHWH has shown favor". Notice that all of their names say something positive about YHWH.
13. So Michayahu reported to them all the words in the book that he had heard when Barukh had read [it] in the hearing of the people.
14. Then all the leaders sent Yehudi the son of Nethanyahu, the son of Shelemyahu, the son of Kushi to Barukh, saying, "Bring the scroll in which you have been reading in the hearing of the people, and come." So Barukh the son of Neriyahu brought the scroll and came to them,
Yehudi: means a Judahite (or "Jew"). Shelemyahu means "Repaid by YHWH". Kushi: a dark-skinned person.
15. and they told him, "Please sit down and read it in our hearing." So Barukh read [it] in their hearing.
16. And it turned out that when they had heard all the words, they [turned to] each other in fear and said, "We really need to report all these things to the king!"
17. And they asked Barukh, "Please tell us how you wrote all these things. By his dictation?"
18. And Barukh told them, "He recited all these words to me from his [own] mouth, and I recorded them on the book with the ink!"
19. Then the leaders told Barukh, "Go, hide yourself--you and Yirmeyahu--and don't let anyone know where you are!"
20. Then they went into the courtyard to the king, but they left the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe for safe-keeping, and reported all the words to the king verbally.
21. But the king sent Yehudi to get the scroll, and he brought it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and Yehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the leaders who stood around the king [a little ways off].
22. Now the king was sitting [in] the winter lodge, [it being] the ninth month, and with [a fire] burning [in] the hearth in front of him.
The ninth month: the same month in which Hanukkah begins, usually overlapping with November and December. Hearth: or brazier, a small metal fire-pan; Aramaic, coals.
23. However, when Yehudi had read three or four columns, he would tear it off with the scribe's razor and throw it into the fire that was in the hearth, until the whole scroll was consumed by the fire that [was] in the hearth,
He: the king. Scribe's razor: or pen-knife, which he would use to scrape off an error he had written, much as an eraser is used today. Perhaps, like Thomas Jefferson, he had the audacity to cut out the parts he did not agree with, thinking that if he ignored it long enough, the truth would go away. But people do this in more subtle ways by translating Scripture to hide what it really says: "Christ is the end of the Law" instead of "Messiah is the goal toward the Torah aims", etc. Another king (James) cut off the whole Torah in this way because it did not suit his theology or political aims, and thus he and other theologians left Israel a powerless, lob-sided people. But genericizing the truth or taking it out of context does not make it any less true, and a day of reckoning must come.
24. and neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words had [any] apprehension, nor did they tear their garments,
Tear their garments: a sign of mourning and repentance. This action gave the king no pangs of conscience at all. They had no respect for YHWH, so He would show them no respect. Their only fear was that no one would respect their position if they let Yirmeyahu get away with saying all these things against him.
25. though Elnathan, Delayahu, and Gemaryahu had indeed tried to persuade the king not to burn the scroll, but he would not listen to them.
After His blanket disapproval of these leaders, YHWH made sure these men who were the exception received the credit for acting in opposition to the majority.
26. Then the king ordered Yerachme'el the king's son, Serayah the son of Azriel, and Shelemyahu the son of Avd'el to arrest Barukh the scribe and Yirmeyahu the prophet, but YHWH kept them hidden.
Yerachme'el means "Elohim will have mercy"--an assumption that was presumptuous to make. Serayah means "YHWH exerts power". Azriel means "Elohim is my help". Shelemyahu means "repaid by YHWH" and Avd'el means "servant of Elohim". Their names would make one think they were on YHWH's side, and they probably thought they were, but in actuality they were not.
27. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Barukh had written from Yirmeyahu's dictation, saying,
28. "Go back and take another scroll for yourself and write in it all the original words that were in the first scroll which Yehoyaqim the king of Yehudah burned.
29. "And tell Yehoyaqim the king of Yehudah, 'This is what YHWH says: "You have burned this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written therein [that] the king of Bavel will certainly come and spoil this Land and cause there to stop from being [any] man or beast there?'"
30. "'Therefore, this is what YHWH says about Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah: "He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be thrown out [and exposed] to the parching heat in the daytime and the frost by night,
31. "'"and I will hold him and his seed and his servants accountable for their perversity, and I will cause to come upon them and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and on the man of Yehudah all the trouble that I have threatened against them, since they did not listen."'"
Because he did not listen to the warnings, the punishment would now be even worse.
32. So Yirmeyahu took another scroll and gave it to Barukh the son of Neriyah, the scribe, and he wrote in it, at the dictation of Yirmeyahu, all the words of the book that Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah, had burned in the fire, and many more of the same kind of words were added over [and above] them.
CHAPTER 37
1. Then Tzidqiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu began to reign as king in place of Konyahu the son of Yehoyaqim, whom Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, had made king in the land of Yehudah.
In place of: or, under.
2. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of YHWH, which He had spoken by the hand of Yirmeyahu the prophet,
3. yet King Tzidqiyahu sent Yehukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Ts'fanyahu the son of Ma'aseyah the priest to Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying, "Please pray to YHWH our Elohim for us."
They thought they could still simply ask for the prophet's (and YHWH's) help while ignoring his words.
4. Yirmeyahu even came and went among the people, nor had they [yet] committed him [to] any place of restraint.
36:19 tells us that he was to hide. So where did he hide? Among the crowds, just as Y'shua did. (Yochanan 18:20) Y'shua did little that one or another of the prophets before Him had not done, even raising the dead. But He brought together something of what each had done, as a sign that He was the one they all pointed to.
5. Then an army of Pharaoh came out from Egypt, and when the Khasdim who were besieging Yerushalayim heard the report of them, they withdrew from around Yerushalayim.
Withdrew: literally, went up.
6. Then the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying,
7. "This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'You must speak like this to the king of Yehudah, who is sending you to Me to ask something from Me: "Pharaoh's army, which is coming out to help you, will end up returning to his own land of Egypt.
8. "'"Then the Khasdim will come back and wage war against this city and capture it and burn it with fire.
9. "'"This is what YHWH says: 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Khasdim will proceed to leave us", because they will not leave!
10. "'"'For even if you struck down the whole army of the Khasdim who are engaging you in battle, though [all that] remained among them were the mortally wounded, each man in his tent would [still] rise up and burn this city with fire.'"'"
No natural advantage or probability was going to prevent YHWH from bringing justice upon them.
11. Now when the Khasdim withdrew from around Yerushalayim because of the presence of Pharaoh's army,
12. Yirmeyahu started to leave Yerushalayim to go into the land of Binyamin to receive a portion [that was divided] there among the people,
Receive a portion: LXX, buy a property.
13. but it turned out that when he [got to] the Gate of Binyamin, a captain of the guard was there, and his name was Yir'iyah, the son of Shelemyah the son of Chananyah, and he arrested Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying, "You are defecting to the Khasdim!"
Captain of the guard: LXX, a man with whom he lodged. Yir'iyah means "YHWH sees me". Chananyah: a common name, but perhaps the same man mentioned in 36:14.
14. But Yirmeyahu said, "Wrong! I am not defecting to the Khasdim." But he did not listen to him; rather, Yir'iyah held Yirmeyahu and took him to the leaders,
Wrong: or, false! A lie!
15. and the leaders became enraged with Yirmeyahu and beat him and put him, tied up, in the house of Yehonathan, because they had made it the prison.
16. When Yirmeyahu had gone into the dungeon and into the cells, Yirmeyahu remained there many days.
17. Then King Tzidqiyahu sent and brought him out, and in his house the king consulted him secretly, saying, "Is there a word from YHWH?" And Yirmeyahu said, "There is." And he said, "You will be handed over to the king of Bavel."
Perhaps this king is different from his predecessors--at least softening (even if not publicly) when he sees the prophecies coming to pass.
18. Yirmeyahu also said to King Tzidqiyahu, "How have I sinned against you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in the prison?
19. "Where are they now--your prophets who prophesied to [all of] you, saying, 'The king of Bavel will not come upon you or onto this Land'?
20. "Please listen, my master the king! Let my plea for favor fall out before your face, and do not make me return to the house of Yehonathan the scribe, so I will not die there!"
21. So Tzidqiyahu the king gave the order that they should cause Yirmeyahu to be looked after in the court of the prison-warden, and give him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers' yard until all the bread was consumed from out of the city. So Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the prison-warden.
Despite his sins, the king still had some degree of respect for YHWH. Perhaps this is why YHWH did not let him be killed in battle. Consumed from out of the city: i.e., until the siege caused them to run out of supplies. The siege began on the tenth day of the tenth month, and it is common to fast on that day in commemoration. (Zech. 8:19)
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Chapters 38-43
Above: View from the wall of Yerushalayim
CHAPTER 38
1. When Sh'fatyah the son of Mathan, Gedalyahu the son of Pash'hur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyahu, and Pash'hur the son of Malkhiyah heard the words that Yirmeyahu had spoken to all the people
2. ("This is what YHWH says: 'Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, the famine, or the plague, but whoever goes out to the Khasdim will survive; his life will belong to him as plunder, but he will survive.'
Goes out: i.e., to surrender. Plunder: LXX, a treasure discovered.
3. "This is what YHWH says: 'This city will certainly be handed over to the king of Bavel's army, and he will capture it'"),
4. then [these] leaders told the king, "Please have this man executed, because this way he keeps disheartening the hands of the warriors who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people--by telling them things like this, because this man is not seeking the people's welfare, but rather its harm."
Disheartening: LXX, weakening. All Yirmeyahu would have to do was compromise by toning down his message; after all, he might have saved some lives! But he did not consider this an option.
5. And Tzidqiyahu the king said, "Look, he is here, within your power, because the king cannot do anything against you!"
Aramaic, the king cannot answer you a word. I.e., the king was now as powerless as everyone else in the city, as the siege wore on. Also, these four men (in v. 1, and perhaps others) were so influential that they actually had more control over the people than the king did.
6. So they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the pit of Malchiyahu, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the prison-warden, and they let Yirmeyahu down with ropes. Now there was no water in the pit, but [there was] mud, and Yirmeyahu sank down into the mud.
This was a literal example of the "broken cisterns that can hold no water" (2:13) Water is a symbol of YHWH's word, and a cistern is related in Hebrew to the word for "well", whose common root means "a place to find clarity or explanation". Instead, this one did just the opposite: it muddied everything. It was symbolic of the state that Yerushalayim was in, since it was the place which, of all places, was meant to bring clarity. It had been clouded by the shepherds of Israel. (Compare Yehezqel 34:18ff.) They were trying to claim Yirmeyahu was the one doing this (v. 4), but it was their cistern he was put in, and it was the muddy one.
7. When Eved-Melekh, a Kushite man (a eunuch, and he was from the king's house), heard that they had put Yirmeyahu into the pit, while the king was sitting at the Gate of Binyamin,
Eved-Melekh means "a servant of the king", but it was not king Tzidqiyahu that he proved to be serving, but the King of Kings, YHWH. Kushite: LXX, Ethiopian--which many Kushites were indeed, but the descendants of Kush also included Nimrod's line in the land of Shinar (Babylonia). The word itself simply means a dark-skinned person. Eunuch: or simply, a court official, since he would not technically be a "man" if he was a eunuch. Tradition says he was the only pious man among the courtiers of the king. (Ginzberg)
8. then Eved-Melekh came out from the king's house and spoke to the king, saying,
9. "My master the king, these people have been wrong in all that they have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet, whom they have thrown into the pit, and he will die of hunger at the bottom of it because there is no more bread in the city."
He will die: could be translated, he has died. Tradition says that since Yehonathan the jailer had a habit of making annoying comments to mock Yirmeyahu, he did not answer when Eved-Melekh called him either, and Eved-Melekh thought he had already died. It was not until Eved-Melekh began to weep that Yirmeyahu realized that he was a pious man instead, and thereupon replied. (Ginzberg)
10. So the king gave Eved-Melekh the Kushite orders, saying, "Take in your hand thirty men from this [place] and bring Yirmeyahu up out of the pit before he dies."
Thirty men: David had thirty particularly mighty men. (2 Shmuel 23) This probably indicates that he was bringing along a whole military unit to guard him as he rescued Yirmeyahu, rather than meaning he was stuck so fast in the mud that it required thirty men to extricate him. In your hand: LXX, with you.
11. So Eved-Melekh took the thirty men in his hand and went into the king's house to the lower level of the storehouse and got from there old [torn-up] rags and worn-out scraps and sent them down to Yirmeyahu in the pit with ropes.
The lower level of the storehouse: or, underneath the treasury. Scraps: from the word for dissipating or becoming scattered, a common root with the word for salt. Luke 14:33-34 links salt losing its savor with refusing to forsake all that one has to follow Y'shua. But it is the scattered (exiled from Israel) who are instrumental in the resurrection of the One New Man of which Y'shua is the Head. (Yirmeyahu lived out a foreshadowing of Y'shua's resurrection, as one appointed over the nations, 1:9-10) These particular scraps appear to have been from the king's old clothes (or perhaps the garments of the priests). At one time they were very useful in identifying the one who wore them. Once the king had the ability to sustain the people, but he did not uphold Torah, so even his influence was only a shred of what it had been (v. 5), yet this once he did the right thing, so even what was cast off (the remnant of what had once been) brought deliverance to the faithful. Genesis 35:2 links putting away foreign gods with changing one's garments. The garment we changed into after putting away idolatry--the Torah and the authority once taken away from Israel--will save what is left of a once-awesome nation. It is our responsibility to restore the "salt" by making new salt--disciples who will indeed forsake all for Y'shua and His Kingdom, Israel.
12. Then Eved-Melekh the Kushite told Yirmeyahu, "Please put the worn-out rags and scraps under your arm-joints where the ropes [will] rest." So Yirmeyahu did just that.
Joints: probably armpits, but perhaps elbows. Eved-Melekh was considerate enough to think of the detail of Yirmeyahu's comfort even during his rescue, rather than merely saying, "This is the best I can do."
13. and they began to pull Yirmeyahu with the ropes and bring him up from the pit, and Yirmeyahu was sitting in the courtyard of the prison-warden.
14. Then Tzidqiyahu the king sent and had Yirmeyahu brought to him at the third entrance that is in the House of YHWH, and the king said to Yirmeyahu, "I am asking you for a word; don't hide anything from me."
The third entrance: This was also the third time the king asked for an audience with Yirmeyahu, but did not heed his words.
15. But Yirmeyahu said to Tzidqiyahu, "When I tell you, won't you put me to death for sure? And if I give you advice, you won't listen to me!"
16. But Tzidqiyahu swore an oath to Yirmeyahu secretly, "[As] YHWH lives, who formed this soul for us, I will neither put you to death nor hand you over to these men who are [intensely] seeking your life."
17. So Yirmeyahu told Tzidqiyahu, "This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'If you will indeed go out to the princes of the king of Bavel, then you yourself will survive, and this city will not be burned with fire. Both you and your household will survive.
The Temple could have been spared if he had been obedient. This may be a prophecy of the need for today's Yehudah to "surrender" to joining the rest of the tribes which are still in Babylon in order that the whole nation of Israel may survive. Y'shua said there would again be a time to flee from the Land of Yehudah (Mark 13:14) before the whole nation could return and be permanently placed in the Land. They were bowing to Egypt in hopes that Bavel would not be able to conquer them, much as Yehudah today bows to the wishes of the United States in order to escape subjugation to the United Nations. However, whatever she regards as her security is an idol, and will have to prove disappointing because Israel belongs to YHWH and no one else.
18. "'But if you will not go out to the princes of the king of Bavel, then this city will be given into the hands of the Khasdim, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not be delivered from their hand.'"
What was the point of YHWH's wanting them to surrender? It would show that they were willing to admit their wrong and take their due in punishment. It was actually Him to whom they would be surrendering, and He would accordingly be merciful. Today we again have the occasion to confess the guilt we have inherited from our ancestors (16:19). What stood in this king's way was the fear of men:
19. Then Tzidqiyahu the king told Yirmeyahu, "I am in dread that the Jews who have fallen into the hands of the Khasdim may hand me over to them, and they will abuse me."
Have fallen: Aramaic, who desert; LXX, who have gone over (which was in obedience to YHWH). Abuse: the Heb. term includes dealing ruthlessly with someone, mocking him, thrusting him through, or making a fool of him.
20. But Yirmeyahu said, "They don't need to hand you over. I beg you, obey the voice of YHWH which I am declaring to you, so it may go well for you, and you yourself can survive.
21. "But if you refuse to go out, this is the thing that YHWH has shown me:
22. "There are all of the women who are left [alive] in the household of the king of Yehudah being brought out to the princes of the king of Bavel, and they are saying, 'Your men of peace have enticed you and succeeded in defeating you; your feet have been made to sink in the mire, and they have turned their backs.'
Men of peace: LXX, men who were at peace with you; Aramaic, confederates. Sink in the mire: the very sentence they had forced Yirmeyahu to live through. It would come back on their own heads.
23. "And they are bringing all of your wives and your children to the Khasdim, and you will not be delivered out of their hand, because you will be seized by the hand of the king of Bavel, and this city will be burned with fire."
24. Then Tzidqiyahu told Yirmeyahu, "No man may know about these words, and you will not die.
25. "But if the rulers hear that I have talked to you, and they come and say to you, 'Please tell us what you said to the king; do not keep it hidden from us, and we will not kill you', or, 'What did the king say to you?',
26. "then tell them, 'I was laying my plea for favor before the king to not let me go back to the house of Yehonathan to die there.'"
27. And all the leaders did come to Yirmeyahu and started to interrogate him, so he reported to them such words as all that the king had ordered, and they turned from him in silence, because the matter was not perceived.
Perceived: or, regarded (as being of any consequence).
28. So Yirmeyahu remained in the courtyard of the prison-warden until the day that Yerushalayim was captured, and he was [present] as Yerushalayim was taken.
CHAPTER 39
1. In the ninth year of Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, in the tenth month, Nebukhadretzar, king of Bavel came to Yerusahalayim with his armed force, and they began to impose a siege upon it.
Prophetically this may have a second fulfillment in the siege described in Zech. 13-14.
2. By Tzidqiyahu's eleventh year, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the city was broken through into,
This date is "Tesha b'Av", when a fast is often held to commemorate this event. (Zech. 8:19) The city wall was again breached on this same date in A.D. 70, and the second Temple destroyed the next day, according to the historian Josephus.
3. and all the princes of the king of Bavel entered and sat at the inner gate--Nergal-Shar'etzer, Samgar-Nevo, Sarskim (the chief eunuch), Nergal-Shar'etzer [being] the chief astrologer, along with all the rest of the king of Bavel's rulers.
Inner gate: LXX, middle gate.
4. And it turned out that when Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, and all the men of war saw them, they hurried out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two [joined] walls, and left by way of the Aravah.
5. But the armed force of the Khasdim chased after them and overtook Tzidqiyahu on the plain of Yericho, and they seized him and brought him up to Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, at Rivlah in the land of Chamath, where he pronounced sentences against him.
Jewish tradition says he tried to escape through a cave that led from his house to Yericho, but YHWH sent a deer into the camp of the Khasdim (Chaldeans), which, when chased, led them directly to the opening at the other end of the cave at the precise moment Tzidqiyahu was reaching it. (Ginzberg) Joseph Good sees a parallel here with the Counterfeit Messiah's capture since he will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:20), which is how the Dead Sea was described when solid petroleum deposits would bubble up from fissures in its depths, and be set on fire by lightning. These fissures were sealed off by an earthquake in 1840, but another earthquake, when the Messiah sets His foot on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4) may open it up again. The Dead Sea is very close to the plain of Yericho. Jewish legend says Tzidqiyahu had broken faith with Nevukhadretzar on several occasions, publicly shaming him with knowledge he had sworn not to reveal, and Nevukahdretzar told him that, while according to the Torah and the laws of the state, he should receive the death penalty for his false oaths, he could be spared if he remained loyal. Again he swore to this to save his life, but then went back on his promise. (Ginzberg)
6. Then the king of Bavel began to slaughter Tzidqiyahu's sons in his sight at Rivlah, and the king of Bavel slaughtered all the freeborn nobles of Yehudah.
Freeborn nobles: those who had abused Yirmeyahu. The prophet had told Tzidqiyahu that he would be exiled to Babylonia (34:3), but that he would never see that land. According to tradition, the king thought this was contradictory, and therefore untrue, but this is how the two prophecies converged:
7. Then he blinded Tzidqiyahu's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters to bring him to Bavel.
Fetters: Aramaic, chains.
8. The Khasdim also burned the king's house and the people's houses with fire, and pulled down the wall of Yerushalayim.
9. Now the rest of the people who were left in the city and the fallen who had prostrated themselves to him, Nevuzar'adan, captain of the guard, carried away into exile in Bavel.
Captain of the guard: alt., chief butcher (as of those who massacre men) or chief executioner (as borne out by the Aramaic translation).
10. But the poor, who did not have anything, Nevuzar'adan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Yehudah and gave them vineyards and plowed fields on that day.
Poor: here, the weak, languishing, or low. He made them rich through a form of socialism that kept them docile, but under the wrong agreement; they were still used by those truly in power in a foreign land. They would be likely to tell their sons what Babylon did for them rather than what YHWH did for them. This trick is still used today to keep churches towing the line of political agendas. The nobility who did surrender, however, such as Daniel, were treated well in their exile, and actually had government posts.
11. Then Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, gave orders concerning Yirmeyahu by the hand of Nevuzar'adan, the captain of the guard, saying,
12. "Fetch him and set your eyes upon him, and do not do any harm to him, but whatever he tells you, that [is what] you shall do with him."
13. So Nevuzar'adan, the captain of the guard sent [for him]; Nevushazban (chief of the eunuchs), Nergal-Shar'etzer (the chief astrologer), and all the chiefs of the king of Bavel
14. also sent and brought Yirmeyahu out of the courtyard of the prison-warden, and they entrusted him to Gedalyahu, the son of Akhiqam the son of Shafan, to conduct him out to [his] home, and he lived among the people.
15. Now the word of YHWH had come to Yirmeyahu while he was being detained in the courtyard of the prison-warden, telling [him]
16. to go and tell Eved-Melekh the Kushite, "Thus says YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel: 'Here I am, bringing to pass My pronouncements against this city for harm and not for benefit, and they will be [done] in front of your face in that day.
17. "'But I will deliver you on that day,'declares YHWH, 'and you will not be handed over to the men before whose faces you are afraid,
Y'shua said that anyone who aided one of His brothers who was in prison would also receive great reward. (Mat. 25:35ff; compare Psalm 91:7-8.)
18. "'because I will let you slip away to escape, and you will not fall by the sword; rather, your life will be yours as plunder since you have put your trust in Me,'" declares YHWH.
Escape: a privilege that the king himself was not allowed. Since you have put your trust in Me: compare Yeshayahu 53:12; Psalm 91:9-10.
CHAPTER 40
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH after Nevuzar'adan, captain of the guard, had sent him from Ramah, when he was taken, bound [in chains], among all the exiles from Yerushalayim and Yehudah who were being carried away captive into Bavel:
2. Now the captain of the guard fetched Yirmeyahu and said to him, "YHWH your Elohim had threatened [to bring] this trouble against this place,
This "word from YHWH" actually came through the Babylonian official!
3. "and [now] YHWH has [begun to] bring it about and to do what He said, since you sinned against YHWH and would not obey His voice. So this thing has come upon you.
4. "But now I have loosed you today from the chains that are on your hands. If it [seems] agreeable in your eyes to come with me to Bavel, [then] come, and I will set my eye over you; but if it is wrong in your eyes to come with me to Bavel, [then] stay. Look, the whole land is before you! Wherever it is pleasing or appropriate in your eyes to go, go there!"
Set my eye over you: Aramaic, take good care of you. Stay: literally, forebear, stop, leave undone.
5. While he still had not gone back, [he added], "Or, go back to Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam the son of Shafan, whom the king of Bavel has appointed overseer over the cities of Yehudah, and settle with him among the people--or go to wherever it is appropriate in your eyes to go." And the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a loan, and sent him off,
Loan: or contribution.
6. and Yirmeyahu went into Mitzpah to Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam, and settled with him among the people who remained in the Land.
Mitzpah: or simply, the watchtower.
7. Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the field--they and their men--heard that the king of Bavel had appointed Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam as overseer in the Land, and had entrusted to him men, women, and toddlers, as well as some of the poorest of the Land from [among] those who were not taken into exile in Bavel,
Forces in the field: i.e, those of Yehudah.
8. then they came to Gedalyah at Mitzpah (namely Yishma'el the son of Nethanyahu, Yochanan and Yonathan, the sons of Qareach, Serayah the son of Tanchumeth, the sons of Eufei the Netofite, and Yezanyahu the son of the Maakhathite, along with their men),
Yishma'el means "Elohim has heard." Yochanan means "YHWH has shown favor". Yonathan means "YHWH has given." Serayah means "YHWH has contended". Eufei means "gloomy". Yezanyahu (if a shortened form of Yaazanyahu) means "YHWH has given ear".
9. and Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam, the son of Shafan, swore to them and to their men, saying, "Don't be afraid of serving the Khasdim. Settle in the Land and serve the king of Bavel, and it will go well for you.
Go well for you: LXX, be better for you.
10. "Now I [myself] am staying at Mitzpah to stand before [any] Khasdim who may come against us, but you collect wine, summer [fruit], and oil, put them in your containers, and settle in your cities that you have held.
Apparently he was distributing food for them as a gift from the king of Bavel. Summer fruit: Aramaic, figs. Held: LXX, obtained possession of.
11. Also, when all the Jews who were in Moav and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom or who were in any [other] lands heard that the king of Bavel had permitted some from Yehudah to remain and had appointed Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam, the son of Shafan over them,
12. then all the Jews came back from all the places into which they had been banished, and came into the Land of Yehudah to Gedalyah at Mitzpah and collected wine and summer [fruits] in very great quantities.
The land had had its rest during the siege because many had fled to Yerushalayim for refuge from the enemies. (35:11) So now it was producing in abundance. After a much longer exile, the Land of Israel is again becoming very fruitful on many levels. It looked as if things were not so bad for those still in the Land.
13. But Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the captains of the forces that were in the field came to Gedalyah at Mitzpah,
14. and told him, "I’m sure you realize that Ba’alis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah to destroy your life!" But Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqamdid not believe them.
This is very much like those in the Land today who simply will not believe that the descendants of the original Yishma'el do not have peaceful intentions toward Yehudah.
15. Yochanan the son of Qareach even spoke to Gedalyahu in secret at Mitzpah, saying, "Please let me go and kill Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah, and no one will know. Why should he destroy [your] life and [let] all the Jews that have gathered to you be scattered, and what's left of Yehudah be done away with?
16. But Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam told Yochanan the son of Qareach, "Do not do this thing, because you are telling a lie against Yishma'el."
CHAPTER 41
1. Now it turned out that in the seventh month, Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah the son of Elishama (from the royal seed and of the king's chief men) came to Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam at Mitzpah, and ten men were with him, and they ate bread together there at Mitzpah.
According to Joseph Good, having ten men with him, he is a picture of the Counterfeit Messiah. Gedalyah was not of the royal line of David, but was someone who served at Babylon's pleasure, just as the leaders of Yehudah today operate at the behest of the U.S. and the U.N. The unique present-day combination of this factor, the fruitfulness of the Land, and the refusal to believe there is an enemy may suggest that the remainder of the scenario in this chapter may also have prophetic significance in the coming days.
2. Then Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah rose up along with the ten men who were with him, and struck down Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam with the sword; thus they killed the one whom the king of Bavel had appointed overseer over the Land.
A fast is held each year in Gedalyahu's memory to this day. Ten men: symbolic of an entire congregation, so perhaps these portray the religious Muslims who perpetrate suicide bombings.
3. Yishma'el also struck down all the Jews who were with him (with Gedalyahu) at Mitzpah, along with the Khasdim (the men of war) who were found there.
4. Then on the second day [after] he had killed Gedalyahu, while no one [yet] knew [about it],
5. men came from Sh'khem, Shilo, and Shomron--eighty men with beards shaven off, clothes torn, and cutting themselves, having a tribute and frankincense in their hand to bring to the House of YHWH,
Beards shaven: a sign of deep mourning. Cutting themselves: Aramaic, mutilating. They were not completely familiar with the Torah's commands, but they appear to have been headed for a Yom Kippur service at the Temple, perhaps not yet knowing it had been destroyed. Or perhaps they wished to mourn its loss on its former site. Yet all of these men were from the Northern Kingdom's territory, so they probably represent Christians who want to worship YHWH, yet are used to worshipping in a pagan manner, since they are not taught the right way. A tribute: LXX, manna.
6. and Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah went out to meet them, shedding tears as he walked along, and when he joined them he said, "Come to Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam!"
Gedalyahu pretended to be one of these naive people.
7. But it turned out that when they came into the middle of the city, Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah slaughtered them toward the middle of the cistern--he and the men who were with him.
The Muslims claim that after they kill the "Saturday people" (v. 3), they will then kill the "Sunday people".
8. But ten men were found among them who said to Yishma'el, "Don't kill us, because we have caches of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field!" So he held back and did not have them put to death along wit their brothers.
Ten men: one congregation remained. Caches: much like the five virgins in Yahshua's parable who had an extra reserve of oil. (Mat. 25)
9. Now the cistern where Yishma'el had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was the one that the king, Asa, had made because of the presence of Baasha, king of Israel. Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah filled it with those who were [mortally] pierced.
Because of the presence of Baasha: LXX, for fear of Baasha. As long as he and Asa were both on the throne, there was war between them. (1 Kings 15:16, 32) In fact, Mitzpah was built with the stones of the dismantled Ramah, which Baasha had built in order to stage a siege of Yerushalayim. (15:22) This cistern was for the purpose of maintaining a water supply in the city despite the siege, much like the spring-fed pool Hizqiyahu had built during the siege of Sennacheriv of Ashur. (2 Chron. 32:30)
10. And Yishma'el began carrying away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mitzpah--the king's daughters, and all the people who were left in Mitzpah, whom Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard had entrusted to Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam. When Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah had taken them captive, he started walking, [intending] to cross over to the sons of Ammon.
11. But when Yochjanan the son of Qareach and all the captains of the forces who were with him heard [about] all the evil that Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah had done,
12. they took all the men and went to fight with Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah, and they came upon him at the abundant waters that are at Giv'on.
Giv'on is only a few miles north of Yerushalayim, near the well-known modern Arab city of Ramallah. It is where King Shlomo had asked YHWH for wisdom when YHWH had offered him whatever he wanted.
13. Now when all the people who were with Yishma'el saw Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the captains of the forces who were with him, they rejoiced,
14. and all the people whom Yishma'el had taken captive from Mitzpah turned around and followed Yochanan the son of Qareach.
15. But Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah escaped from Yochanan's presence with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon.
He thus lost two of his captains.
16. Then Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the captains of the forces who were with him took those of the people from Mitzpah who remained, whom he had recovered from Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah after he had struck down Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam--the heroic men of war, the women, the toddlers, and the eunuchs whom he had brought back from Giv'on.
17. So they went and stayed at the inn of Kimoham which is just beside Beyth-Lechem in order to leave and go into Egypt,
Kimoham means "awaiting with longing". Perhaps this was the inn that had no room when Yahshua was about to be born. Though they were in a place of longing and so close to the "place of bread" (Beyth-Lechem), they still were seeking their protection from a place YHWH had forbidden Israel to go to for protection. (Deut. 17:16)
18. because of the presence of the Khasdim, since they were afraid of them on account of Yishma'el the son of Nethanyah's having killed Gedalyahu the son of Akhiqam, whom the king of Bavel had appointed [as overseer] in the Land.
CHAPTER 42
1. Then all the captains of the forces, as well as Yochanan the son of Qareach, Y'zanyah the son of Hoshayah, and all the people, from the small to the great, approached
2. and said to Yirmeyahu, "Please let our request for favor fall before your face, and pray to YHWH your Elohim for us--for all these that are left, because we are [so] few; we are [only] as many as your eyes can see.
Pray for us: from a root word meaning "behind"; i.e., backing us up with added support. Your Elohim: They did not see Him as their own Elohim. We are so few: Aram./LXX, few out of [what were] many.
3. "Then YHWH your Elohim may make known to us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do."
Walk: also an idiom for "conduct our lives". But as we will see, after what had just taken place, they felt unsafe where they were, and wished to go elsewhere.
4. So Yirmeyahu told them, "I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to YHWH your Elohim as you have said, and any word that YHWH may [provide in] reply, I will report to you; I will hold nothing back."
Your Elohim: Yirmeyahu turns their words back upon them and affirms that He is their Elohim as well, if indeed they wish to know His will.
5. Then they told Yirmeyahu, "Let YHWH be a true and reliable witness between us, if we do not indeed act in accordance with anything that YHWH your Elohim may send to us,
6. "whether pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of YHWH our Elohim to whom we are dispatching you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of YHWH our Elohim."
This is what the whole nation of Israel told Moshe (Ex. 19:8) and Yehoshua. (Yehosh. 1;17; 24:24)
7. Now at the end of ten days, the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu,
The fast of Gedalyah (41:1-3) falls on the third of the seventh month, and Yishma'el's massacre was two days later (41:4), so we have reached the fifteenth of the month, which is the first day of the feast of Sukkoth. They may have even fasted on Yom Kippur in the intervening period in order to wait on YHWH's answer.
8. and he summoned Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people, from the small to the great,
9. and told them, "Thus says YHWH, Elohim of Israel, to whom you dispatched me to bring your plea for favor before Him:
10. "'If you will indeed remain in this Land, then I will establish you and not overthrow you, and I will plant you and not uproot you, because I have been moved to compassion over the calamity that I have brought upon you.
They asked where they should walk, but He told them to stay where they, as Israel, belonged. This is one of the themes of Sukkoth. Establish: or buildâ€â€ÂÂÂanother theme of the festival of Sukkoth, which began on this day. Plant you: Sukkoth is a festival that celebrates and thanks YHWH for the harvest. During it, rain for the next growing season is requested.
11. "'You should not be afraid because of the presence of the king of Bavel, before whose face you are [now] afraid. Do not be afraid of Him," declares YHWH, "because I am with you to deliver you and to recover you from his hand,
12. "'and I will assign tender mercies to you, so that he will have compassion on you, and allow you to return to your own Land.
Since He has brought them under Babylon's rule as a punishment, He instructs them to go with this flow and not resist--to pay their taxes and suffer the economic consequences of their sin, and He will have mercy. But they must not go back to the religious system from which He delievered them.
13. "'But if you say, "We will not remain in this Land, to avoid obeying the voice of YHWH your Elohim",
14. "'saying, "No, because we are going to go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the shofar or be hungry for bread, and we will settle there",
Sound of the shofar: a warning of an impending attack, and a call to arms. Egypt would have ulterior motives in welcoming them there, as it proved once before. And the church, which Egypt often represents, though it still holds many Israelites hostage, is not Israel's ally. While it rejoices to see Yehudah back in the Land because of prophecy, it forecasts its own exemption from the coming trouble but judgment for the Jews unless they join its ranks. It is not a true protection from the economic system that threatens to enslave us (for the Beast will turn on the harlot, Rev. 17:16.); living out our role as Israel is. YHWH constantly warns against looking to Egypt as our security rather than to Him.
15. "'then hear now the word of YHWH, O remnant of Yehudah! This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: If you indeed set your faces to go into Egypt, and you do go there to seek asylum,
16. "then it will turn out that the sword that you were afraid of will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you were so concerned about will stick close behind you [all the way into] Egypt, and you will die there.
Stick close behind you: Aramaic, reach after you. Today many have left the land of Israel or hesitated to move there when they could because of the presence of terrorists, but now the terrorism is catching up with them in "safe" nations as well. If they based their decision on fear, that which they fear is what will rule them, for they in a real sense worshipping that thing, giving it a power that it would not otherwise have had, and it will therefore follow them wherever they go. If that is what they choose, that is where YHWH will leave them.
17. "'And for all of the people who have set their faces to go into Egypt and seek asylum, it will turn out that they will die by the sword, the famine, or the plague, and they will have no survivor or fugitive from the face of the trouble that I am bringing on them,
18. "'because this is what YHWH, [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Just as My anger and My rage have been poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, in the same way My rage will be poured out on you as you enter Egypt. Then you will become a curse and a horror, something to be taken lightly, and an object of scorn, and you will never again see this place."'
A horror: i.e., to others; LXX, under the power of others. An object of scorn: Aram., a disgrace.
19. "YHWH has spoken concerning you, O remnant of Yehudah; do not go into Egypt! Recognize [and] acknowledge that I have warned you today,
20. "because you have misled your own souls when you sent me to YHWH, saying, 'Pray to YHWH your Elohim for us, and whatever YHWH may say, report it to us and we will carry it out.'
21. "So I have reported it to you today, but you have not listened to the voice of YHWH your Elohim or to anything for which He has sent me to you.
22. "So now know for certain that by the sword, by the famine, or by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go for asylum."
This is the sentence for asking a priest for a ruling, then not carrying it out. (Deut. 17:9-12)
CHAPTER 43
1. And it turned out that when Yirmeyahu had finished telling the people all the words of YHWH their Elohim, for which YHWH their Elohim had sent him to them--all these words,
2. then Azaryah the son of Hoshayah and Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the arrogant men spoke, telling Yirmeyahu, "You are telling a lie! YHWH our Elohim did not send you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to seek asylum there',
They had fooled themselves into thinking they would do the right thing if YHWH only told them what it was (42:20), but they were already conveinced that they knew what that "right thing" was, and when His actual word did not line up with that, they assumed Yirmeyahu was being pressured to say what he said:
3. "because Barukh the son of Neriyah is inciting you against us in order to hand us over to the Khasdim to be killed or exiled to Bavel!"
Barukh was from a very influential family, and these leaders resented it, accusing him of being the one putting Yirmeyahu up to
4. So neither Yochanan the son of Qareach nor any of the chiefs of the forces nor any of the people obeyed the voice of YHWH [which had told them] to remain in the Land of Yehudah.
5. Rather, Yochanan the son of Qareach and all the chiefs of the forces took all who were left of Yehudah who had come back to the Land of Yehudah from all the nations into which they have been driven--
6. the men, the women, and the toddlers, the king's daughters, and every soul that Nevuzar'adan, the captain of the guard, had allowed to remain with Gedalyah the son of Akhiqam, the son of Shafan, as well as Yirmeyahu the prophet and Barukh the son of Neriyah,
Yirmeyahu and Barukh, the only innocent ones in the situation, were taken along as hostages.
7. and they entered the land of Egypt, because they had not obeyed the voice of YHWH, and they came to Tachpanhes.
8. Now the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu at Tachpanhes, saying,
9. "Take large stones in your hand and conceal them in mortar at the brickyard at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tachpanhes, in the sight of the men of Yehudah,
10. "and tell them, 'Thus says YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel: "Behold, I am sending [for] My servant, Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and I will bring him [here] and set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will extend his adorning canopy over them.
Adorning canopy: a decorative shade over the royal throne. Aramaic, footstool. Yirmeyahu hid cornerstones for Nevukhadretzar's throne-room under the bricks in Pharaoh's courtyard. When Nevukhadretzar would come and strip away the courtyard, they would be revealed.
11. "'When he has come and subjugated the land of Egypt, whoever is [appointed] for death [will go] to the death, whoever is [designated] for captivity, to the captivity, and whoever is [assigned] for the sword, to the sword [he will go].
If YHWH has marked you, you cannot escape no matter where you go, as Yonah learned!
12. "'Then I will kindle a fire in the house of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and carry them away captive, and he will envelop the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and he will leave there unharmed.
Envelop: or, forcibly grasp; LXX, search. Unharmed: or, in peace, i.e., unscathed. The house of the gods of Egypt: the Church as it has become, co-opting the symbols that once belonged to Israel and making them subservient to pagan agendas.
13. 'He will also break in pieces the upright stones of the House of the Sun which is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he will burn with fire.
Upright stones: pagan cultic pillars that were often phallic symbols; probably obelisks in the case of Egypt. House of the Sun: LXX, the pillars of Heliopolis which are in On. But the steeples of the "houses of Sun-day worship" are the successors to these "upright stones".
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Chapters 44-47
CHAPTER 44
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt--those living at Migdol, at Tachpanhes, and in the land of Pathros:
2. "This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Yerushalayim and on all the cities of Yehudah, and look! This day they are a ruin, and there is no one living in them
3. "'because of the presence of their evil that they have done to provoke Me to anger--to go to burn incense to serve other elohim with whom they were not familiar--[neither] they, nor yourselves, nor your ancestors--
4. "'while I kept sending you all My servants the prophets--starting early in order to send them to say, "Please do not do this repulsive thing that I have [always] hated!"
5. "'But they neither obeyed nor held out their ear to turn back from their evil, so as to avoid burning incense to other elohim.
Other elohim: LXX, strange elohim.
6. "'So My rage was being poured out and My anger was being kindled in the cities of Yehudah and in the open [squares] of Yerushalayim, and they have been laid waste and devastated as [it is] this day.'
7. "And now, this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Why are you doing [such] a tremendous disservice to your souls, by causing man, woman, child, and nursing baby to be cut off from within Yehudah, to not leave yourselves any remnant,
8. "'by provoking Me to anger by the works of your hands, by burning incense to other elohim in the land of Egypt, where you have gone for asylum, so that I would have to cut you off and that you would become something to be taken lightly, and an object of scorn among all the nations of the earth?
9. "'Have you forgotten [the] wickednesses of your ancestors and [the] wickednesses of the kings of Yehudah and [the] wickednesses of his wives and your own wickednesses and [the] wickednesses of your wives, which they have perpetrated in the land of Yehudah and the streets of Yerushalayim?
His wives: probably King Shlomo's in particular, since it was they who first started the pattern of bringing in pagan customs.
10. "'They have not been pressed into contrition even to this day, nor have they shown [Me] respect or walked in My Torah or [within] My prescribed limits that I set before you and before your ancestors.
Pressed into contrition: or, crushed; LXX, ceased.
11. "'Therefore, this is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Here I am, setting My face against you for calamity and to cause all of Yehudah to be cut off,
Setting my face: an idiom for being resolved to go through with something no matter what.
12. "'"and I will take the remnant of Yehudah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to find asylum there, and they will all be finished off in the land of Egypt and will fall by the sword. By the famine they will be finished off, from the least important to the most important. By the sword and by the famine they will die, and they will come to be a curse and a horror, something to be taken lightly, and an object of scorn,
13. "'"and I will bring punishment upon those who remain in the land of Egypt, just as I have brought punishment upon Yerushalayim--by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague--
14. "'"and there will not be a fugitive or a survivor for the remnant of Yehudah who are going into Egypt for asylum or [any] to return to the land to Yehudah to which they are longing with a passion to return [and] settle, because no one will return unless they escape."'"
Longing with a passion: literally, are lifting up their soul; LXX, hope in their hearts.
15. Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other elohim and all the women who remained--a great assembly--and all the people who had settled in the land of Egypt (in Pathros), answered Yirmeyahu, saying,
All the people: that is, those of the people of Yehudah. Their wives: Women were priestesses of this cult, as was later a common custom among Greek and Roman temples. Most oracles were women, and this was the context for Paul's limitations on women. Women had now become responsible for Yehudah's spirituality, for they are more spiritually sensitive than men, and where men do not lead, women will fill the void, taking things into their own hands like Chavvah (Eve). But they lean to the side of compassion over judgment, and therefore are not always as discerning of evil inroads. (See Yehezqel 8:14) A goddess seems more giving than a judging Elohim who sometimes wages war. Yet since YHWH pronounced the sentences against Adam and Chavvah, when women rule over men, it causes the nation to err. (Yeshayahu 3:11) As in the case of Vashti (Esther 1), the Messiah's bride is now claiming to know better than He, though He has already made a ruling on the issues where she wants the policy changed. Her usurper is known as "mother Church".
16. "[As for] the word that you have spoken to us in the name of YHWH, none of us will listen to you,
They listened to their wives rather than YHWH's prophet. In the same type of situation, Ezra told the men of Israel they had to divorce such wives.
17. "because we will certainly carry out every word that proceeds from our mouth about burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and to have libations poured out to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our rulers have been doing in the cities of Yehudah and the open plazas of Yerushalayim, and we had more than enough bread, were well-to-do, and saw no trouble.
Queen of Heaven: Thus they were under Babylonian influence anyway. This is the goddess which was confused with the virgin Mary after Constantine tried to merge all the religions in his empire into one. In fact, only a few years ago Mary was officially recognized by Rome as being the Queen of Heaven. This in itself should be enough warning to disentangle oneself from any of her influence. This goddess held special appeal for women, and we are seeing the same trend toward goddess-worship today.
18. "But since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have been lacking in everything, and have been brought to an end by the sword and by the famine.
19. "And when we were burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out libations to her, did we make cakes in her shape [to sacrifice] to her or pour out libations to her apart from our men?"
I.e., did they do any of this without their husbands’ knowledge or permission? Cakes in her shape: Recently a cake mold was found at Mari (a Mesopotamian city with linguistic connections to Hebrew) in the shape of a nude woman making a sensual gesture, identified by archaeologists as being dedicated to the Queen of Heaven.
20. Then Yirmeyahu told all the people, on account of the strong men and the women and all the people who had answered him [this] word,
21. "Hasn't YHWH remembered the incense that you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and the people of the land burned in the cities of Yehudah and the open plazas of Yerushalayim? Indeed, it has come up in His heart,
People of the Land: an idiom for the common people.
22. "and YHWH can no longer bear with the presence of the wickedness of your practices or the disgusting things you have done, so your Land has become a ruin, an appalling wasteland, and something to be taken lightly due to having no inhabitants, as [it is] this day.
23. "In face [of the fact] that you have burned incense and that you have sinned against YHWH and have not obeyed YHWH's voice, His Torah, His prescribed limits, and you did not walk in His repeated warnings, that is why this calamity has come upon you [unexpectedly], as [it is] this day."
Repeated warnings: or testimonies. This was the correct explanation for why things had stopped going well for them; it had nothing to do with them stopping their sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven.
24. Yirmeyahu also said to the whole nation and to all the women, "Listen to the word of YHWH, anyone from Yehudah who is in the land of Egypt!
25. "This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'You and your wives have both been promising with your mouths and bringing [it] to completion with your hands, saying, "We will carry out our vows that we have made to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out libations to her!" You certainly have been making your vows binding, and you have indeed been carrying out your vows.
26. "'Therefore, listen to the word of YHWH, every Jew who is seeking asylum in the land of Egypt! Look! I have sworn by My great Name,' says YHWH, '"If My Name will ever be called upon again by the mouth of any man of Yehudah in the whole land of Egypt, saying, '[As] the Master YHWH lives!'"
He will punish those who are outside His will, yet still flippantly call on His Name. Yet when we left our "Egypt", His Name was again revealed to us and He has allowed us to begin using it again.
27. "'Here I am, keeping [My] attention on them [constantly] for calamity and not for [what is] pleasant, and all the men of Yehudah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword or by the famine until they are finished off.
28. "'But [some] men--few in number--who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the Land of Yehudah. Then the whole remnant of Yehudah who have gone into the land of Egypt to seek asylum will know whose word will endure--Mine or theirs!
29. "'And this will be the token', declares YHWH, 'that I am bringing punishment upon you in this place, in order that you may understand that My words will indeed be proven to be valid in regard to you--unto calamity!'
30. "This is what YHWH says: 'Look! I am handing Pharaoh Hafra over to his enemies and to those who are seeking his life, just as I handed Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, over to Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, his enemy and the one who was seeking his life.'"
CHAPTER 45
1. The word that Yirmeyahu the prophet had said to Barukh the son of Neriyah, when he had written these words on a document from Yirmeyahu's dictation, in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah:
This is a flashback chronologically. Yehoyaqim had taxed Yehudah to pay tribute to Egypt (2 Kings 23:35), which may be why the people of Yehudah now expected to find refuge in that land. Nevukhadnetzar made Yehudah a vassal state, then after three yearsYehoyaqim rebelled against him. Perhaps this was the fourth year Yirmeyahu mentions here, because 2 Kings 24 tells us that at this time YHWH brought on Yehudah the destruction the prophets had foretold.
2. "This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says to you, Barukh:
3. "'You said, "Alas for me now, because YHWH has added sorrow to my pain! I grew weary when I was groaning, but have found no rest!"'
4. "This is what you must tell him: 'This is what YHWH says: "As I have built up, I am tearing down, and what I have planted, I am uprooting. Indeed, the Land itself belongs to Me.
5. "'"And you--are you asking for better things for yourself? Don't ask for them, because indeed I am bringing calamity on all flesh," declares YHWH. "But I will give you your life as spoils in regard to any place where you may go."'"
I.e., everyone is going to suffer during this time, even those who were wealthy and influential, and even those who have been obedient. He should not expect to be exempt, but YHWH did reward him for siding with Yirmeyahu, telling him that no matter what happened to him, he would not be killed, and that was one less thing to be concerned about. The fullness of wrath would not fall on him. He should be thankful for this, because such a promise was not given to many of his close relatives. In the coming years great devastation will come upon the whole world (greater than ever before), and we should not expect to escape it completely. But for those "called according to His purposes" who keep following Him and reject the Babylonian system, He has promised both a reward and a place in Y'shua's Kingdom.
CHAPTER 46
1. The word of YHWH that came to Yirmeyahu about the nations--
LXX, At the beginning of the reign of Tzidqiyahu, there came this word concerning Elam.
2. for Egypt, about Pharaoh-Necho the king of Egypt, who came over the river Ferath at Karkemish, whom Nevukhadretzar king of Bavel conquered in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah:
Ferath: Gk., Euphrates.
3. "Prepare the shield and the siege-buckler, and come near for battle!
Siege-buckler: a shield large enough to hide behind if being shot at from a city wall.
4. "Harness up the horses and mount [them], O horsemen, and take your stand with your helmets! Polish the spears, and put on the coats of armor!
5. "Why have I seen them dismayed and turning back? Even their valiant ones are beaten down, and have fled [for] refuge without looking back. Terror [was] all around," declares YHWH.
6. "The swift will not escape, nor will the valiant be delivered. On the north side of the River Ferath they have stumbled and fallen.
Natural advantages have no bearing on the outcome when YHWH decides what is to be.
7. "Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters surge to and fro like the rivers?
8. "Egypt rises up like the Nile, and [its] waters surge to and fro like the rivers. He says, 'I will go up and overwhelm the Land; I will destroy the city and those who live in it!’
9. "Come up, you horses, and [drive like] madmen, you chariots, and let the valiant ones of Kush and Put, who are skillful in the use of the shield, come forth, along with the Ludites, who wield and bend the bow [with their feet].
Kush and Put: inhabitants of what are now Ethiopia and Libya. Ludites: a Semitic people that inhabited north Africa.
10. "And that day belongs to the Master YHWH of Armies--a day of vengeance to avenge Himself because of His adversaries, and the sword will devour and be glutted, and drink its fill of their blood, because the Master YHWH of Armies has a slaughter in the land of the north toward the River Ferath.
11. "Go [ahead] up to Gil'ad and fetch a salve, O virgin daughter of Egypt, [but] in vain have you made numerous remedies; there is no healing for you[r wound].
I.e., even if you obtain the best medicines, they will not serve your purpose. YHWH is somewhat sarcastic here, daring them to try their best to get around His judgment.
12. "Nations have heard of your disgrace, and your outcry has filled the Land, because the valiant one has stumbled against the valiant one; both of them have fallen down together."
He is prophesying about Egypt, but speaking to Israel, so that when YHWH does what He says, they will have evidence that He is in control.
13. The word YHWH spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet [about] the coming of Nevukhadretzar the king of Bavel to cause the land of Egypt to be conquered:
14. "Report it in Egypt, and let it be heard in Migdol! Let it also be heard in Nof and in Takhpanhes! Say, 'Station yourself and get ready, because the sword will devour [everything] around you.
Nof: LXX, Memphis.
15. "'Why is your mighty [man] lying prostrate? He could not remain standing, because YHWH pushed him [down].
Your might man: LXX, Apis (the bull-god of Egypt).
16. "'He has greatly increased [his] stumbling; each one was knocked down against his fellow, and they said, "Get up and let’s go back to our kinsmen and our native land, away from the presence of the sword that treats [us] violently!'
The sword that treats us violently: LXX, the Grecian sword.
17. "'They proclaimed there, "Pharaoh, king of Egypt is [nothing but] an uproar! He has passed the appointed time."
I.e., is past his prime; he is no longer "a man whose time has come". He is no longer a threat.
18. "'[As] I live,' declares the King, YHWH of Armies is His Name, '[as surely] as Tavor is among the mountains and Karmel is by the sea, he will come.
19. "'Prepare yourself utensils of captivity, O [woman who] inhabits [the] daughter of Egypt, because Nof will become an appalling wasteland and be left desolate since no one lives there.
20. ""Egypt is a very beautiful heifer, but a stinging insect has come out of the north.
21. "'Those whom she has hired are in her midst like tied-up calves, because they too have turned away and fled together; they could not remain because the day of their distress has come upon them, the time of their being called to account.
22. "'Its sound will proceed like a serpent when they march in an army and come to her with axes like woodcutters.
Its sound: LXX, Their voice is as that of a hissing serpent.
23. "'They have cut down her forest,' declares YHWH, 'though it cannot be detected, because they are more numerous than a [swarm of] locusts, and cannot be counted.
24. "'The daughter of Egypt has dried up; she will be handed over to the people of the north.'
Dried up: or become ashamed. YHWH has to kill His wife's illegitimate lover as well as punishing His wife. He is a jealous Elohim. (Ex. 20:5) This is the second time the Egyptians came against Babylon.
25. “YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says, 'Here I am, bringing punishment upon the chief architect of Thebes, upon Pharaoh, upon Egypt and its gods and its kings--upon Pharaoh and upon those who rely on him [for safety],
Amun-No: an Egyptian god, whose name means The chief architect of Thebes: Heb., Amun-No. Amun was the name of one of the gods of Egypt, and No means "disruption".
26. "'and I have handed them over to those who intently seek their lives--into the hand of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and into the hand of his servants, but later it will indeed be inhabited as in the days of antiquity,' declares YHWH.
27. "'But don’t you fear, My servant Yaaqov, and do not go to pieces, O Israel, because here I am, rescuing you from afar off, and your seed from the land of their captivity, and Yaaqov will return and be undisturbed and [totally] at ease, and there will be no one causing him to tremble.
My servant Yaaqov: not a blanket endorsement for anyone who is his physical descendant, but those of them who serve Him as Yaaqov did.
28. "'You must not be afraid, My servant Yaaqov,' declares YHWH, 'because I am with you, for I will bring about an annihilation of the nations into which I have driven you, but I will not bring you to a complete end, though I correct you and do not exempt you from punishment.'"
After "I am with you", the LXX adds, She that was without fear and in luxury has been delivered up. An annihilation: There will be no place to turn but back to YHWH--and no power structure left to prevent their return.
CHAPTER 47
1. The word of YHWH that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet toward the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Azzah:
Azzah: known in English as Gaza, due to a Greek transliteration.
2. "This is what YHWH says: 'Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and are becoming an overflowing torrent, and will overrun the Land and all that fills it, the city and all its inhabitants. Then the men will cry for help, and the inhabitants of the Land will howl.
Waters: Though Philistia is on the seacoast, this is idiomatic of an army sweeping in like a flood, especially since it is sweeping in from the north, not the west (the word for which means "sea-ward" in Hebrew.
3. "At the noise of the stomping of his strong [horses’] hooves, at the rattling of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers will not turn their faces toward their sons because of the feebleness of their hands,
4. "because of the day that is coming to devastate the Philistines, and to cause there to be cut off from Tzur and Tzidon every support that is left, because YHWH is devastating the Philistines who are left [from] the coast of Kaftor.
Kaftor: the original home of the Philistines, probably Crete. Tzur and Tzidon: powerful "Phoenician" cities on on the coast of modern-day Lebanon. Every support: LXX, all their allies. Havoc is being wrought on the whole Land and the whole earth because of what Israel has done wrong. How significant is our every act when He has put us in a position of being a light to all nations.
5. "Baldness has come to Azzah; Ashqelon is undone. O remnant of their lowland, how long will you cut into yourself?
6. "'Alas, O sword of YHWH, how long will you not be pacified? Bring yourself back into your sheath! Give yourself a rest, and be still!'
7. "How can it be quiet, when YHWH has given it a commission against Ashqelon and against the seacoast? He has assigned it [to be] there."
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Chapters 48-52
CHAPTER 48
1. To Moav, this is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Alas for Nevo, because she has been devastated! Qiryathayim has been dried up and captured! The inaccessible fortress has been dried up and shattered.
Moav: the tribal land of one of Lot's sons, across the Yarden River from Yerushalayim. Nevo: A city in Moav named for a Babylonian deity. Qiryathayim means "a pair of towns".
2. There is no more boasting about Moav in Heshbon; they have plotted evil against it, to come and cut her off from being a nation. You too, Madmen! You will be made silent; a sword will go after you.
Madmen: a city whose name means "place of the dunghill". Many other towns in Moav are mentioned throughout this chapter.
3. A cry of distress sounds forth from Khoronayimâ€â€great havoc and breakage!
Khoronayim: a town whose name means "a pair of great caves".
4. Moav is crushed! Her little ones have caused an outcry to be heard,
5. because [at the] Ascent of Lukhith, they will go up, crying [with] tears, because on the slope [coming] down [from] Khoronayim, the oppressors have heard a cry of destruction:
6. "Run away! Let your souls escape, and be like a bare [tree] in the wilderness,
A bare tree: LXX, a wild donkey.
7. "because since you trust in your achievements and your treasure-stores, you too will be captured, and Khemosh will go out into exile, together with his priests and princes,
Because: The reason for all these punishments. Verse 27 gives another reason. Khemosh: the national deity of Moav, whose name meant "subduer". YHWH was ousting him, too!
8. "and a despoiler will come to every city, and not a city will escape. The valley will also be destroyed and the plateau annihilated, as YHWH has said."
The plateau: most of Moav which lies above the cliffs of the Great Rift Valley which drop off sharply to the west. The valley: possibly the Great Rift Valley, through which the Yarden River flows.
9. Give wings to Moav, so it may fly away, and its cities become a wasteland from no one living there!
LXX, Set marks on Moav, for she will be touched by a plague-spot.
10. Cursed is the one who does the work of YHWH carelessly, and cursed is the one who keeps his sword back from blood.
Carelessly: or, deceitfully, with treachery. The LXX equates the two phrases in this curse. Perhaps this refers to Israel's responsibility to correct her cousin Moav for her errors, since Moav's ancestor Lot had, after all, been Avraham's nephew and learned about YHWH from him, but turned aside to another elohim.
11. Moav has been at peace [resting securely] since his youth, and he is [sitting] unagitated on his dregs, and has not been poured out from container to container (that is, he has not gone into exile), so his taste has grown flat within him, and his scent has not been changed.
Yirmeyahu uses the terminology of winemaking here. Agitation is necessary for it to ferment properly. Fresh wine cannot be put into a keg with old dregs still in it, or it becomes bitter. By being lax, Moav has missed becoming what it was supposed to become.
12. "Therefore, behold, days are coming," declares YHWH, "when I will send him those who will incline him and make him tip over, empty out his containers, and dash their bottles to pieces.
Since the wine turned out poorly, it was too late to merely turn the containers. It had to be poured out and thrown away. LXX: I will send him bad leaders, and they will lead him astray.
13. "Then Moav will be ashamed of Khemosh, just as Israel was ashamed of Beyth-El, in which they trusted.
14. "How can you say, 'We are strong and men capable of battle?'
15. "Moav has been devasted, and her cities have gone up [in smoke], and its choice young men have gone down to the slaughter," declares the King, whose Name is YHWH [Master] of Armies.
They still cannot see the cracks in their foundation, and think they are as strong as ever.
16. The [day of] Moav's calamity is near to come, and his trouble is [arriving] in a great hurry.
17. Mourn for him, all you who are around him, and anyone who knows his name, say, "How [is it that] the prevailing staff, the rod of splendor, is broken?"
Mourn for: LXX, shake the head at.
18. Come down from your [place of] importance and sit in thirst, O [woman who] inhabits the daughter of Dibon, because the despoiler of Moav has come upon you; he has made your fortifications a ruin!
Daughter: when referring to a city, it means one of the villages or hills surrounding it. Thirst: LXX, a moist place.
19. O woman who inhabits Aroer, stand by the road and watch intently; ask the one who is fleeing and the one who is escaping: say, "What has been going on?"
20. Moav has been dried up, because it has been broken down. Cause a [great] howling, and cry out; report it in Arnon that Moav has been greatly despoiled!
Arnon: a river-canyon east of the Dead Sea very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
21. Judgment, too, has come to the territory of the plateau; to Kholon and in Yahatz, as well as on top of Meufaath,
Kholon means "place of whirling sand". Yahatz means "trodden down" and is the place where Israel had defeated Sikhon, king of the Emorites. Meufaath means "splendid height".
22. and on Dibon, on Nevo, and on Beyth-Diblathayim,
23. on Qiryathayim, on Beyth-Gamul and on Beyth-Meon,
Beyth-Gamul means "house of recompense". Meon is a name of one of the Ba'als.
24. on Q'rioth, on Botzrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moav, those far away and those nearby.
25. "Moav's horn has been chopped off, and his foreleg is broken," declares YHWH.
26. Make him drunken, because he has magnified himself over YHWH. So Moav will splash in his own vomit, and himself become a laughingstock,
27. because wasn't Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he indeed found among thieves? Because as often as you spoke against him, you shook your head.
28. Inhabitants of Moav, abandon the cities and live in the rock, and be like the dove who builds her nest in the regions beyond the mouth of the pit!
The rock: Heb., sela, which, when used as a proper name, refers to Petra, a city south of Moav which indeed was built in the sides of cliffs.
29. We have heard of the haughtiness of Moav (he is extremely proud)â€â€his loftiness, his majesty, and how elevated his heart is.
Compare Yeshayahu 15-16 and Amos 2.
30. "I have noticed his overflowing [arrogance]," declares YHWH, "and they have not accomplished as much as his idle boast [would have you believe]."
31. Therefore, on account of Moav, I will make a [great] howling, and I will cry for Moav--all of it; for the men of Qir-Khares, it will moan.
32. More than the weeping of Yaazer will I weep for you, O vine of Sivmah! Your tendrils have crossed a sea, reaching as far as the sea of Yaazer; a despoiler has pounced upon your summer [fruits] and your vintage.
Sivmah: a town in Moav whose name means "fragrance", probably from the vineyards there. Vintage: LXX, grape-gatherers.
33. Joy and gladness [are what] has been gathered away from the [fruitful] plantation and from the land of Moav. I have put an end to the wine from the winepresses; no one will tread out [the grapes] with cheers: "Heydad!" No, [it will instead be] "Heydad!"
The fruitful plantation: or perhaps the proper name, Karmel, Israel's best wine-producing area. Heydad: a cheer shouted when treading grapes, but also a battle cry; YHWH is saying that the latter is what will be heard instead of the former. (Compare Rev. 14:19; 19:15)
34. From the cry of Heshbon to El'aleh as far as Yahatz, they have extended their voice; from Tzoar as far as Khoronayim, a heifer three years old, because even the waters of Nimrim will be devastated.
A heifer three years old: the prime time to be slaughtered. (cf. Numbers 19) She is as large as she will get, but her meat has not yet begun to toughen. Nimrim: meaning "limpid" or "pure", a brook in Moav 10 miles (16 km) north of the Dead Sea and 3 miles (5 km) east of the Jordan.
35. "For Moav I will indeed put an end," declares YHWH, "to the one who has ascended to a cultic platform and the one who has burned incense to his gods."
36. Therefore my heart will make a tumult for Moav like flutes, and my heart will make a tumult like flutes for the men of Qir-Heres, since indeed the abundant wealth it has produced has been lost.
37. For every head [will be] bald, and every beard cut back. There will be gashes on every pair of hands, and burlap on the hips.
Beard cut back: diminished, or possibly even shaved off, a cause for shame, because it symbolizes the diminishing of one's importance and means he is to be taken less seriously. Gashes: or cuttings--a pagan mourning ritual. Burlap: also a symbol of mourning since it is rough, itchy, and very uncomfortable.
38. "On all the rooftops of Moav and in its wide-open [squares], it is all wailing, because I have broken Moav like a jar in which no enjoyment [is found]," declares YHWH.
39. "How it is shattered," they will howl. "How Moav has turned his back in shame, and Moav has become a laughingstock and an object of horror to all those around it."
40. Because this is what YHWH says: "Behold, he will dart like an eagle, and spread his wings toward Moav.
Spread his wings: to slow his quick dive so he can swoop directly onto his prey.
41. "Q'rioth has been captured, and the mountain-fortresses have been taken, and the hearts of the valiant [men] of Moav have become like the heart of a woman because of [the] distress.
42. "And Moav as a nation will be annihilated, because he has magnified himself over YHWH.
43. "Terror, the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moav," declares YHWH.
Terror, the pit, and the snare: a word-play in Hebrew, in which they are pronounced pakhad, pakhat, and pakh.
44. "Whoever runs away from the presence of the terror will fall into the pit, and whoever comes up out of the pit will be caught in the snare, because I will bring it upon her--upon Moav--the year of their calling to account," declares YHWH.
45. "Those who ran away stopped in the shadow of Heshbon because of the force, because a fire will come out from Heshbon, and a flame from within Sikhon, and will devour the edge of Moav, and the crown [of the head] of the sons of pompous noise.
46. "Woe to you, Moav! Khemosh's nation has been lost, because your sons have been taken away into captivity, and your daughters into exile.
47. "Yet I will bring back the captives of Moav in the lattermost of days," declares YHWH. Thus far is the sentence [regarding] Moav.
In the lattermost days: In the "time of the restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21), perhaps these ancient nations that descended from Avraham's extended family will also be re-established as such. (See also 49:6, 39.)
CHAPTER 49
1. This is what YHWH says to the sons of Ammon: "Does Israel have no sons? Or does he have no successor? Why [then] does Malkham inherit Gad, and his people inhabit their cities?
Sons of Ammon: the descendants of Lot's other son, Moav's brother. The name of its capital, Rabbat-Ammon is still preserved in the name of Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is on the same site. Malkham: means "their king", but refers to a particular Ammonite idol also known as Molekh. Gad: its tribal land east of the Yarden River and west of the territory of the Ammonites, who were making incursions into it. Though at this time the northern kingdom had already been carried away captive, YHWH still considered it the land deeded to their descendants, and one day soon it will be claimed as such again.
2. "Therefore, indeed, the days are coming," declares YHWH, "when I will cause there to be heard a signal of war against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and it will come to be a tel, a desolation, and a fire will be kindled in her daughter [towns], and [it is] Israel [who] will come to possess his inheritance!", says YHWH.
Tel: a mound covering the remains of a ruined city. There are many who likewise would claim Israel's inheritance as their own, while Israel, to whom it was promised, still remains. YHWH's answer to this attitude is that Israel will instead gain their inheritance!
3. Howl, O Heshbon, because Ay is despoiled! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Put on burlap. Wail and run to and fro among the hedgerows, because their king will go into exile, together with his priests and princes!
4. What are you boasting [about] among the valleys? Your valley is pining away, O apostate daughter who trusts in her treasures, [saying,] "Who will come into me?"
5. "Indeed, I will bring terror upon you," declares YHWH, Master of Armies, "from all around you, and you will each be driven out before him, and there is no one to gather together those who run away.
6. "But afterwards I will certainly return the captives of the sons of Ammon," declares YHWH.
7. This is what YHWH of Armies says to Edom: "Is there no longer wisdom in Theyman? Has advice been lost [by] the discerning? Has their wisdom been let go?
Theyman: descendants of Edom; the Hebrew name for the nation of Yemen today.
8. "Run away! Be turned back! Go deep [to make] your abode, inhabitants of Dedan! Because I will bring the calamity of Esau on him at the time I call him to account.
9. "If the grape-gatherers came to you, wouldn’t they leave behind some grapes to be gleaned? If thieves [come] at night, they [only] ruin [what is] enough for them.
10. "But I have laid Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret hiding places, and he will not be able to go any further inward. His seed is despoiled along with his brothers and neighbors, and he no longer exists!
11. "Leave! I will keep your orphans alive, and let your widows trust in Me.
12. "Because this is what YHWH says: 'Behold, those whose decision was to not drink the cup, they have drunk it nonetheless, and are you the one to be held completely guiltless? You will not be exempt from punishment, but will drink [it] indeed.
Cup: often idiomatic for a severe ordeal (e.g., Mat. 26:39).
13. "Because I have sworn by Myself," declares YHWH, "that Botzrah will become an appalling wasteland, a reproach, a desolation, and a trifling thing, and all its cities will become perpetual ruins."
Wasteland: LXX, an impassable land.
14. I have heard a report from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent to the nations [to say], "Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle!"
Ambassador: related to the Hebrew word for "distress". (See note on v. 22.) This is a hint that this prophecy has a last days fulfillment as well as the immediate one in Yirmeyahu's day.
15. "Because, as it turns out, I have made you insignificant among the nations, and held in contempt by humanity.
16. "[The fact that] you terrify [others] has deceived you, as has the presumptuousness of your heart, you who dwell in the retreats of the rock, who [capture and] hold the highest part of the hill. Even if you make your nest as high as the eagle [does], I will bring you down from there," declares YHWH.
LXX, Your insolence has risen up against you. The fierceness of your heart has burst the holes of the rocks; it has seized upon the strength of a lofty hill…
17. "So Edom shall become an appalling wasteland. Everyone who crosses over it will be astonished and whistle at all the beatings it [has taken].
18. "Like the overthrow of S'dom and 'Amorah and its neighboring area," says YHWH, "not a man will settle there, nor will a son of Adam seek hospitality there.
19. "Behold, he will come up like a lion from the swelling of the Yarden toward the 'permanent habitation', but in an instant I will make him run away from it. And who is the choice [person] that I will appoint over it? Because who is like Me? And who will set an appointment for Me? And who is that shepherd who can remain standing in My presence?
Permanent habitation: in the rocks, which they thought nothing or no one could destroy. Swelling of the Yarden: perhaps its current, for the LXX translates it "the middle".
20. "Therefore, listen to the purpose of YHWH, which He has devised against Edom, and the plans that He has thought up for the inhabitants of Theyman: What if the least significant [member] of the flock should draw them out? He would [still] make their habitations desrted on account of them.
21. "The earth is shaken at the noise of their downfall; when they cried out, its sound was heard at the Reed Sea!
The Reed Sea: its nearest point is some 60 miles from Petra, which is in the area Edom inhabited. Shaken: LXX, scared.
22. "Indeed, he will come up and dart like the eagle, and spread his wings over Botzrah, and the hearts of the valiant [men] of Edom will in that day have become like the heart of a woman because of [the] distress.
Distress: sometimes the term refers to birth pangs (especially in the context of v. 24), and "in that day" signals a prophecy about the Messianic age. Thus this passage has an apocalyptic reference as well. Edom is considered the precursor of Rome, so we can surmise that it symbolizes either the Rome-based church system and/or the world empire that stems from the ancient Roman Empire, as described by Daniel.
23. For Damaseq: Khamath and Arpad are put to shame; because of a bad report they have heard, they have fainted away. There is anxiety on the sea; it is not able to quiet down.
The prophecy now turns to the Arameans (Syrians). Quiet down: LXX, rest.
24. Damaseq has lost heart; she has turned to run away, and panic has seized herâ€â€distress and pangs have taken hold of her as [with] a woman in childbirth.
25. "How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town of my rejoicing!
This must refer to Yerushalayim.
26. "So her young men [in their prime] will fall in her plazas, and all the men of war will be silenced in that day," declares YHWH [Master] of Armies.
27. "And I will start a fire on the wall of Damaseq, and it will devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad."
Ben-Hadad: Syria's king during the time of Asa, king of Yehudah. (1 Kings 15:18, et al)
28. This is what YHWH says to Qedar, and to the dominions of Hatzor, which Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, attacked [and conquered]: "Get up, go to Qedar, and despoil the sons of the east!
Hatzor: the capital of 13 Kanaanite kingdoms which Yehoshua had captured, and by far the largest ruined city in Israel. After the northern kingdom had gone into captivity, however, it appears to have been claimed by Syria. Qedar: a nomadic people known for their black tents. (Song of Songs 1:5) Dominions of Hatzor: LXX, the queen of the palace.
29. "They will take possession of their tents and their flocks. They will carry off their drapes, their utensils, and their camels for themselves, and they will call out over them, 'Terror from every side!'
30. "Run away! Shake yourself hard [to flee]! Go deep [to make] your abode, inhabitants of Hatzor," declares YHWH, "because Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, has plotted a conspiracy against you, and has devised a scheme against you.
31. "Get up, go up to the prosperous nation that sits securely," declares YHWH. "It has neither doors nor bars; they dwell in isolation.
Prosperous: or, at ease. Securely: confidently, without care.
32. "And their camels will become spoils, and the abundance of their possessions [will be] for plunder, and I have flung those who cut off the extremities to all the winds, so from all the regions beyond it I will bring [about] their calamity," declares YHWH.
Those who cut off the extremities: of their beards or the hair on the sides of their heads; LXX, having their hair cut about their foreheads. Or perhaps, I have flung them to all the winds, to the farthest corners.
33. "Then Hatzor will come to serve as a lair of dragons, as a desolate place; not a man shall live there until [the] Age, nor will any son of Adam seek hospitality in her."
Lair of dragons: Compare 9:11; 10:22; 51:37.
34. That which came--the word of YHWH to Yirmeyahu the prophet regarding Eylam, at the beginning of the reign of Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, [and I] quote:
Eylam: a province east of Babylon and northeast of the lower Tigris River.
35. "This is what YHWH, [Master] of Armies, says: 'Here I am, breaking the bow of Eylam, the choicest of their bravery,
36. "'and I will bring to Eylam four winds from the four extremities of the skies, and I will fling them toward all these winds, and there will not be a nation where none of those expelled from Eylam have come,
Fling: LXX, disperse. Those expelled from Eylam: or possibly, the perpetual outcasts.
37. "'and I will cause Eylam to be terrified in the face of their enemies and in the face of those who are seeking their life, and I will bring on them trouble--the fierceness of My anger,' declares YHWH, 'and I will send the sword after them until I have finished them off.
38. "'Then I will place My throne in Eylam, and will cause the king and the princes to vanish from there,' declares YHWH.
39. "'But what will take place in the last days is that I will bring back the captives of Eylam,' declares YHWH."
CHAPTER 50
1. The word of YHWH, which He spoke against Bavel, against the land of the Khasdim, by the hand of Yirmeyahu the prophet:
2. "Report it among the nations, and make [sure] they hear it! Lift up a banner and make [sure] they hear it! Don't let it be hidden! Say, 'Bavel has been captured! Bel has withered! M'rodakh is shattered. Her [vexing] idols are dried up, her [rolling] images broken to pieces!'
Bavel (Babylon) has several levels of meaning in Scripture. First, of course, it refers to the city on the plain of Shinar that is 65 miles southwest of Baghdad in present-day Iraq. Once a great empire, it was overtaken by the Medes and Persians, but never destroyed outright in the way that most of this chapter and the next describe. Therefore, we know there is a yet-to-be-fulfilled aspect to it, to which the present war in Iraq may or may not relate. On another level, Bavel is seen throughout Scripture as a seat of rebellion against YHWH. M’rodakh itself (the name of one of Bavel’s gods) means "your rebellion". The local language's way of saying Nimrod's name was Nin-mirud, which relates to this theme of rebellion, because he was the one who initiated this effort, a theme that Greek mythology later took up as "pushing back the oppressively-low heavens". The Tower of Bavel was the salient example of trying to oust even YHWH from His throne. (See v. 24.) Also, the system exported from Bavel, which has spread into every part of the world, has a strongly economic emphasis, as seen in Rev. 18. Its fall seems to stem from the event of the leaders of the world government throw off all ties with the world religious system centered in Rome, of which many Protestant churches are also offshoots since they retained most of the practices added by Rome: e.g., Sunday worship, pagan-based holidays, and some theological emphases that are only marginal at best in Hebraic thought (Rev. 17-18:1). Bel: the Babylonian pronunciation of Ba’al, which means "husband" or "lord"--a title preserved inadvertently even by modern Christianity. There were many middle eastern deities known as Ba'al, each being "lord" of this or that. One in particular, Ba’al-Gad, bears an eerie resemblance to the title "Lord God", and specifically means "Lord of Fortune or Luck"--again, having a tie to the wish for financial security. (Yeshayahu 65:11.) Therefore YHWH is saying He will destroy the elohim of both the literal and symbolic Babylon.
3. "Because a nation is coming upon her from the north which will lay her land waste, and there will not be an inhabitant in it; from man to beast, they will take flight and leave.
North: or, a hidden place.
4. "In those days and at that time," declares YHWH, "the descendants of Israel will come, they and the descendants of Yehudah together, walking and weeping as they go, and YHWH their Elohim they will seek.
Note that both houses of Israel are involved, and that at this point they will join back together.
5. "They will ask the way to Tzion, [with] their faces [looking] there: 'Come, let's join ourselves to YHWH--an everlasting covenant [that] will not be forgotten!"
Unlike the first, which was forgotten by the Northern Kingdom especially.
6. "My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray! They have enticed them away [into apostasy on] the mountain. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten the place where they lay down.
Lost sheep: This is what Yahshua was alluding to when He spoke of the "lost sheep of the House of Israel". (Mat. 15:24) But here it includes both houses of Israel (v. 7). From mountain to hill: from the highest place to a lower one, but Deut. 12:2 includes the hills as places the Gentiles worshipped their gods. So this refers to a turning from YHWH into idolatry, but it was those who were intended to lead them in the worship of YHWH who were responsible for misleading them. Note that another way to say "shepherds" is "pastors".
7. "All who have found them have devoured them; their oppressors have said, 'We've done nothing wrong, under which they have sinned against YHWH, the resting-place of righteousness--that is, the purification pool of their ancestors: YHWH!'
This excuse was heard over and over by every persecutor from the crusaders to the Nazis in reference to the tribe of Yehudah in particular.
8. "Run away from within Bavel, from the land of the Khasdim, and be like the rams [who go] before the flocks [to prepare the way]!
Khasdim (Khaldeans) means either "clod-breakers" or "those who increase". The latter seems to fit more with Babylon’s theme of economic wealth, a system that thrives on the self-interest of its followers, unlike that of Israel, which functions properly only when self-interest is made secondary to being a unified bride for YHWH. While we presently have to work within this system to some extent, our hearts must not be focused there, and one not-too-distant day we will be required to pull out of it completely, when it becomes impossible to buy or sell if we do not receive its mark on our bodies. (Rev. 13) Precursors to this are already in place on many levels, through identification numbers without which we cannot buy or sell either. Soon it will reach the limits of the rebellion YHWH allows it, its cup will tip over, and we will need to make an all-or-nothing decision for or against it. We must be preparing our hearts for that day even now, for that is where the battle will be fought. It will not come about instantaneously, because the command YHWH gives here is contingent on there being time to respond properly if we have the foresight to do so. Like Moshe and Aharon, forerunners of Israel's exodus from this system are already being called and trained to lead the rest out. Of course, the system will not be amused when it finds out how many there are whose chief loyalty is to YHWH and Israel and not to it. But let the final outcome strengthen you against whatever part of its wrath you may feel first:
9. "Because here I am, inciting and drawing up against Bavel an alliance of large nations from a land in the north, and they will take their places against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like [those] of a mighty man with expertise; they will not return empty [handed].
Perhaps this suggests the "Arrow" missiles Israel possesses being used against Iraq.
10. "And [the] Khasdim will come to be spoils [of war]; all who plunder her will be [more than] satisfied," declares YHWH.
11. "Since you are glad, since you rejoice, O you who take My property as spoils, because you are frolicking [proudly] like a heifer in the grass, and neigh shrilly like an obstinate [animal].
Are frolicking: or, have grown fat.
12. "Your mother will be deeply disappointeded; the one who gave birth to you will be ashamed. Indeed, the last of the nations [will be] a wilderness, a land of drought, and an aravah."
Aravah: a land of sparse vegetation, a transitional zone between arable land and desert.
13. Because of YHWH's splintering wrath, she will not remain, but will be devastated--all of her! Everyone who crosses over her will be stunned and will whistle at all her wounds.
14. Get in your positions against Bavel, all you who bend the bow [with your feet]! Shoot at her! Do not spare [any] arrows, because she has sinned against YHWH.
15. Shout out [a battle cry] against her on every side! She has yielded up her hand; her supports have fallen! Her walls have been torn down, because it is the vengeance of YHWH. Avenge yourselves on her; as she has done, do so to her!
16. Cut off the sower from Bavel, and the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest! From the face of the oppressing sword, each will turn to his people, and they will each hurry away to his own land.
To his own land: This means that most of the inhabitants of this land are not native, but are a "mixed people" (see v. 37)--which is the case with both Iraq and the chief nations that uphold the Babylonian system today (the United States, Briatin, and much of Europe). This is not to say that any of these nations is equated directly with Babylon prophetically, but their strength and military might is used by that system to keep its coffers safe. Their inhabitants have been gradually enslaved to that system, but when vast numbers of them surprise it by waking up and realizing they are truly descendants of Israel, they will undermine it.
17. A lamb scattered [from its flock] is Israel; lions have driven him away. The first to devour him was the king of Ashur, and this latest to gnaw on his bones is Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel.
Again, here is an allusion to the "lost sheep of the House of Israel" and their relation of being oppressed by Bavel.
18. Therefore, this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has said: "Here I am, calling the king of Bavel to account, just as I called the king of Ashur to account.
19. "Then I will restore Israel to his home resting-place, and he will graze on Karmel, the Bashan, on the mountains of Efrayim, and the Gil’ad, and his soul will be satisfied!
20. "In those days and at that time," declares YHWH, "Israel's perversity will be searched for, but there will not be any! The sins of Yehudah, too, and they will not be [anywhere to be] found, because I will forgive those whom I keep alive [as a remnant].
21. "Against the land of M'rathayim, go up agains he, and toward the inhabitants of Peqod! Lay [them] waste and dedicate them for destruction behind them," says YHWH, "and act in accordance with all I have ordered you [to do].
22. "A sound of war is in the land, and great breakage!
23. "How is [it that] the hammer of the whole earth chopped off and shattered? How is [it that] Bavel has become an object of appalment among the nations?
24. "I set a trap for you, and you have been captured, O Bavel, and you did not realize it! You were found out and seized, because you engaged yourself in meddling with YHWH!
Did not realize it: Even the day after the Medes (51:11) captured Bavel, most of the population did not realize the city had been taken, because few besides the king were killed.
25. "YHWH has opened His armory and brought out the weapons of His indignation, because this is the Master YHWH's business in the land of the Khasdim.
26. "Come to her from the farthest extremities! Open her granaries! Pile her up as heaps, and dedicate her for destruction! Don’t let anything remain for her!
27. "Put all her young bulls to the sword; bring them down for the slaughter! Woe upon them, because the day of their being called to account has arrived!"
28. The voice of those who are running away and escaping from the land of Bavel, to report in Tzion the vengeance of YHWH our Elohim, the avenging of His Temple!
29. "Summon the archers against Bavel! All you who bend the bow [with your feet], encamp against her all around. Don't let any of them escape! Repay her according to her actions; as she has done, do so to her, because she has been arrogant against YHWH--against the Holy One of Israel.
30. "So her young men [in their prime] will fall in the wide-open [squares], and men of war will be silenced in that day," declares YHWH.
31. "Indeed, I am against you," declares YHWH, the Master of Armies, "because your day has arrived--the time I will call you to account.
32. "Then the arrogant will stumble and fall, with no one to lift him up, and I will have a fire kindled in his cities, and it will consume everything around him.
33. This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: "The descendants of Israel are being defrauded along with the descendants of Yehudah, and all who captured them held tightly to them, and refused to release them.
Again, we see echoes of not being to buy or sell without expressing allegiance to this system. (Rev. 13) Like Pharaoh, it will not let us go when it realizes how depleted it would be if YHWH were allowed His claim on them. But...
34. "Their Redeemer is strong; YHWH [Master] of Armies is His Name! He will fight to plead their case, in order to bring rest to the Land, but make the inhabitants of Bavel perturbed.
35. "A sword is over the Khasdim," declares YHWH, "and the inhabitants of Bavel and is [pointed] toward her princes and her wise [men].
36. "A sword is [pointed] toward those who contrive useless [plans], and they will come to act foolishly; a sword is [pointed] toward her champions, and they will go to pieces!
37. "A sword is [pointed] toward his horses and his chariots, and toward all the mixed people who are within her, and they will become like women. A sword is [pointed] toward her treasures, and they will be seized as plunder.
38. "A drought is [appointed] for her waters, because she is a land of carved images, and they rave over their dreadful idols!
Rave: the same Hebrew word that forms part of "HalleluYah", i.e., show passion and enthusiasm that is worthy only of YHWH.
39. "Therefore, the beasts of the desert will settle there along with the howlers, and the daughters of the owl will live there, and it will never again be inhabited into perpetuity, nor will it ever be settled in until generation upon generation [have passed].
Compare 9:11; Rev. 18:2; Yeshayahu 34:11. Daughters of the owl: or, ostrich; LXX, young of the monster.
40. "As Elohim overthrew S'dom, Ghamorah, and her neighbors," declares YHWH, "not a man will live there, nor will a son of Adam seek hospitality there!
41. "Look! An ethnic group is coming from the north, and a great nation, and many kings will be stirred up from the extreme recesses of the earth.
42. "They will hold tightly to the bow and the javelin; they are cruel and will show no mercy! Their voice will roar like the sea, and they will ride on horses, set in their positions like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Bavel!
43. "The king of Bavel has heard the report of them; his hands have gone limp, and distress has taken hold of him, as well as pangs like a woman in labor!
One fulfillment of this was in Daniel 5:6, but the city of Bavel was not destroyed at that time, nor has it ever been; it has merely fallen into ruins. Therefore, there is a fuller reference point yet to come.
44. "Indeed, he will come up like a lion from the swelling of [the] Yarden to where there are pasturelands year-round, because in a moment I will make them run away from upon it, and who is a chosen one that I can appoint over her? Because who is like Me, and who will set an appointment for Me? Or who is this shepherd who will stand before Me?
Swelling of the Yarden: the time of its flooding, when the water is higher than usual, adding to the proof that this is no ordinary event. A chosen one: or, a youth.
45. "So listen to YHWH's purpose that He has devised against Bavel, and His plans that He has come up with against the land of the Khasdim. If the least significant of the flock does not drag them away; if He will not make the pasture around them into a desert..."
46. From the noise of Bavel being captured, the earth is shaken and a cry of distress is heard among the nations!
CHAPTER 51
1. This is what YHWH says: "Here I am, stirring up a despoiling wind upon Bavel and toward those living in the heart of those who rise up against Me,
A despoiling wind: LXX, a deadly burning wind.
2. "and I will send to Bavel aliens who will scatter her and empty out her land, because in the day of trouble, they will be against her from all around."
Aliens: LXX, fanners, i.e. winnowers.
3. Do not let the one who bends the bow [with his feet] bend it all the way, nor lift himself up within his armor! Neither may you spare her prime young men; dedicate all of her armed forces for destruction!
4. Then the mortally pierced will fall in the land of the Khasdim, and those thrust through in her streets.
5. Because neither Israel nor Yehudah has been widowed by his Elohim, by YHWH [Master] of Armies, though their Land was filled with guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
Widowed: LXX, forsaken.
6. Run away from within Bavel, and let [each] man save himself! Don't be silent when she is perverse, because this is the time of vengeance for YHWH; He will finish repaying her!
Save himself: or, deliver his own soul! Don't be silent when she is perverse: or, do not be caught up in her corruption, which agrees with Rev. 18:4.
7. Bavel is a golden cup in the hand of YHWH, that made the whole earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine; that is why the nations are raving like fools.
8. Bavel has fallen suddenly, and will be broken in pieces! Howl for her! Take salve for her pain, in case she may be [able to be] healed.
9. We repaired Bavel, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let's each go to his own country, because her judgment reaches to the sky, and is carried up to the thin clouds!
We repaired: or, we would have healed; LXX, we tried to heal. Christianity has tried for 2,000 years to "fix the world", to redeem the economic system, to bring it under dominion, but it has not worked. It is therefore time to go back to being Israel and return to the Land of YHWH, where righteousness is truly at home.
10. YHWH has brought about vindication for us! Come, let's recount in Tzion the achievement of YHWH our Elohim!
11. Polish up the arrows! Finish the shields! YHWH has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Maday. Because His invention is [being used] against Bavel to destroy it, since it is the vengeance fo YHHW, the avenging of His Temple.
Finish: LXX, gather. Maday: the Medes, a nation in alliance with Persia.
12. Lift up a rallying banner toward the walls of Bavel! Reinforce the guard-post; station the watchmen! Arrange those who lie in ambush, because YHWH has both planned and carried out what He spoke against the inhabitants of Bavel.
13. O you who dwell over many waters, abounding in treasures, your end is coming; [the] measure of your unjust profit [has been reached].
Unjust profit: the reason the Babylonian system keeps thriving is covetousness, a lust for power and position that Israel has no business with anyway (Rev. 20:17).
14. YHWH [Master] of Armies has sworn upon His own soul, "Indeed, I will fill you with humanity as with young locusts, and they will answer with a war-cry against you."
With humanity: that is, an army. Young locusts: or, caterpillars.
15. --He who Makes the earth by His power, who causes the habitable world to be established by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
16. When He employs His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the skies, and He causes the mists to go up from the extremities of the earth. He has made the lightnings for rain, and brings the wind out from His treasuries.
17. Every human being is unreceptive to knowledge; every smelter is dried up by the carved image, because his cast metal image is a fraud, and breath is not in them.
Unreceptive to knowledge: or dull-hearted, too brutish even to see that the work of one's own hands is not alive. We tend to trust in the hope that there is life in what has no life. "My people perish for lack of knowledge." (Hos. 4:6; compare Prov. 29:18) Babylon's secret to survival is to keep the public blind, withhold the information that could topple it easily, and to feed it a "knowledge" that dulls it to the more important truths through the idea that what is most important is physical possessions. Cast metal image: These idols were usually made of gold and silver, and today’s "gods" are no different, taking only a different form so the connection is not so obvious to the masses.
18. They are useless, the workmanship of delusions! At the time when they are called to account, they will vanish.
19. Yaaqov's Share is not like these, because He is the one who forms everything, and the scepter of his possession--YHWH [Master] of Armies is His Name:
Yaaqov's Share: While others may be placed under the jurisdiction of lesser spiritual rulers, Israel is allotted the privilege of answering directly to the Highest Elohim. With this comes greater responsibility to go through no others and have dealings with none but Him. (Exodus 20:3) Scepter of His possession: or, rod of His inheritance, i.e., stake marking the boundary of His property.
20. "You are a battle-axe to Me--weapons of war, because with you I will dash the nations to pieces, and with you I will despoil nations.
A series of pairs, each of which could not succeed without the other, are to be split up:
21. "Also, with you I will scatter the horse [from] its rider, and with you I will shatter the chariot and its rider.
22. "I will even pulverize [both] man and woman with you, and with you I will divide elder and lad, and with you I will break apart the young man [in his prime] from the virgin.
Pulverize: LXX, scatter.
23. "And with you I will scatter the shepherd and his flock, and I will divide with you the plowman from his team [of oxen], and with you I will break apart governors from subordinate rulers.
24. "Then I will repay to Bavel and to all the inhabitants of Khaldea all their evil that they have perpetrated against Tzion before your [very] eyes," declares YHWH.
25. "Indeed, I am against you, O corrupt mountain," declares YHWH, who brings about the destruction of the whole earth, "and I have stretched out My hand over you and will roll you down from the rocky cliffs, and I will make you into a burning mountain,
The unified Babylonian system, as depicted by the statue in Nevukhadretzar's dream (Daniel 2:37-45), is an image--i.e., only a projection, a counterfeit, a shadow of something else that is more real: the "one new man" that is formed by all those who are called out from the nations, with Messiah as the Head--the restored "image of Elohim" that was lost at Adam's fall. Interestingly enough, Y'shua is depicted there as a stone that will topple the other image, then turn into a mountain that fills the earth. He is also called the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22), unlike Bavel, which ends with a mere thud after its fall:
26. "and they will not take from you a stone [to use] as a cornerstone, or a stone for foundations, but you will be a perpetual wasteland," declares YHWH.
27. Lift up a rallying banner in the Land! Blow a shofar among the Gentiles! Consecrate the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Askenaz against her; station a marshal against her. Bring the horses up like the bristling locusts!
Ararat: on the border between Turkey and Armenia. Minni: a region in Armenia. Ashkenaz: the Germanic peoples, but perhaps originally dwelling in the region of Bithynia in north central Turkey.
28. Consecrate nations against her along with the kings of the Maday, her governors, and all her subordinate rulers, as well as the whole land of his dominion!
29. Then the land will shake and writhe, because every plan of YHWH will be established against Bavel, to make the land of Bavel a wasteland since there is no inhabitant.
30. Bavel's champions have stopped fighting; they have remained in their forts. Their bravery has dried up; they have become like women. They have burned their dwellings; the bars of her [gates] have been broken through.
31. [One] runner will rush to meet [another] runner, and [one] herald to meet [another] herald, to inform the king of Bavel, because his city is captured from outside
One runner…another: in relaying a message over a long distance.
32. and the fords are held, the marsh-reeds burned with fire, and the men of war terrified,
33. because this is what YHWH [Master] of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "The daughter of Bavel is like a threshing-floor; it is [the] season to tread her out. [Just] a little while longer, and a harvest-time will come for her!"
34. Nevukhadretzar, the king of Bavel, has devoured us, has noisily confused us, has displayed that we are an empty vessel, has swallowed us up like a dragon. He has filled his belly with our delicacies, and rinsed us out!
Has noisily confused us: LXX, airy darkness has come upon me.
35. She who dwells in Tzion will say, “The violence [done to] me and to my blood relative[s] is upon Bavel. Yerushalayim will say, "My blood [goes] toward the inhabitants of Khaldea."
My blood goes toward: LXX, my blood shall be upon.
36. So this is what YHWH says: "Here I am, pleading your case, and I have taken revenge on your avenger, and I will dry up her sea and make her [water] source run dry.
37. "Then Bavel will become heaps of stones, a lair of dragons, a horror [that they] whistle [about], from there being no inhabitant.
38. "They will roar together like young [covering] panthers, and growl like lions' cubs.
39. "I will set out their banquets while they are in heat, and have made them drunk so that they will [revel in] triumph and sleep a never-ending sleep, never to wake up," declares YHWH.
It was on such a night of revelry that Belshazzar was killed and his kingdom overtaken. (Daniel 5)
40. "I will bring them down like lambs to the butcher, like rams with [prepared] he-goats.
41. "How [is it that] Sheshakh is captured? Indeed, what the whole earth adored is caught by surprise! How [is it that] Bavel has become stunningly deflowered among the nations?
Sheshakh: a code-name for Bavel in an encryption method of substituting one letter for another method by superimposing the reversed Hebrew alef-beth over the normally-ordered one. Caught by surprise: LXX, caught up in a snare.
42. "The sea has come up over Bavel; she is hidden [beneath] the [turbulent] multitude of its waves!
43. "Her cities have become an appalling wasteland, a drought-ridden land, a deserted plain, a land in which not a man dwells, and not [one] son of Adam passes through.
44. "And I will call Bel to account in Bavel, and I will bring what he has swallowed out from his mouth, and and the nations will no longer stream to him; indeed, the wall of Bavel has fallen!
45. "Get out from within her, My people! And let [each] man rescue his soul from YHWH’s fierce anger!
46. "And so your hearts will not be weakened, and you will not be afraid of the report that is heard in the Land, indeed, the report will come [both one] year and the year after, with violence in the Land, ruler against ruler.
Report: or rumor. Y'shua echoed this in His advance notice that we should not be afraid when we hear of wars and rumors of wars. (Mat. 24:6)
47. "Therefore, indeed, the days are coming when I will attend to the carved images of Bavel, and her whole land will be disconcerted, and all her mortally wounded will fall within her.
48. "Then the heavens and earth and all that is in them will give a ringing cry of joy over Bavel, because the plunderers will come to her out of the north," declares YHWH.
Compare Rev. 18:20. North: or, the hidden place.
49. Though Bavel [caused] all the mortally wounded of Israel to fall, in the same way all the mortally wounded of the earth will [bring about] Bavel's fall.
LXX: In Babylon the slain men of all the earth shall fall.
50. Those [of you] who have escaped the sword, move [away]! Don’t stand still! Remember YHWH from afar off, and let Yerushalayim come up into your mind!
Those who have escaped th sword: YHWH had said that a sword would follow Israel into its exile, and continue to devour many there. (42:16; 49:38) Those whom He sees fit to leave alive are the remnant of 50:22; 23:3. Let Yerushalayim come up into your mind: or, let Yerushalayim take precedence over your own heart (i.e., more important to us than our own private interests). Yerushalayim is a larger concept than the mere city, though it is meant to embody that as the "central headquarters" of YHWH's revelation. The concept is that of a unified people, an Israel that acts as a single entity. Do not let the Babylonian system steal your heart, but let the only real alternative (and the true one) have all your allegiance. You cannot serve yourself; you will have to serve one or the other of these.
51. We are ashamed because we have heard taunting; disgrace has covered our faces, because strangers have come up into the holy parts of YHWH's House.
Strangers: or, more particularly, those who are estranged, i.e., having once had a place in our midst but have left due to a falling-out.
52. "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," declares YHWH, when I will attend to her carved images, and throughout all her land the mortally wounded will groan in lament.
Carved images: or simply, idols, with all the figurative applications this term may have today, since Bavel represents the economic system that "deals in the bodies and souls of men". (Rev. 18:13)
53. Though Bavel should climb up to the sky, and make the elevation of her strength inaccessible, plunderers from Me would come to her," declares YHWH.
54. A noise of an outcry from Bavel, and [the sound] of great breakage from the land of the Khasdim!
55. [It is] because YHWH is devastating Bavel, and is causing the loud noise to disappear from her; when their waves have roared [turbulently] like many waters, [the] uproar of their noise will have been permitted,
56. because the plunderer has come upon her--upon Bavel--and her champions have been captured; their bows are broken in pieces, because the Hero of Recompense--YHWH--will fully pay them back.
Broken in pieces: LXX, their bows are useless.
57. "And I will intoxicate her princes, as well as her wise men, her governors, her subordinate rulers, and her valiant men, and they will sleep a never-ending sleep, never to wake up," declares the King, [whose] Name is YHWH [Master] of Armies.
The King: i.e., the true champion--another jab at Nevukhadretzar’s pride.
58. This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: "The broad walls of Bavel will be utterly stripped away, and her tall gates will be set on fire, and the labor of the peoples will be for nothing, and the peoples [themselves] as if for the fire, though they have worn themselves out [building them]."
59. The word [by] which Yirmeyahu the prophet gave orders to Serayah, the son of Neriyah, the son of Makhseyah, when he went with Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, into Bavel, in the fourth year of his reign: (Now Serayah was the ruler of the resting-place,
Ruler of the resting-place: i.e., "quarter-master".
60. so Yirmeyahu wrote down in one book all the trouble that would come upon Bavel--that is, all these words that are written against Bavel.)
61. And Yirmeyahu told Serayah, "When you arrive in Bavel and have seen [it], then you must read out all of these words,
62. "and you must say, 'O YHWH, You have spoken against this place to cause it to be cut off, so it will be without an inhabitant in it, either human or animal, because it will be an everlasting desolation.'
63. "Then when you have finished reading this book aloud, you must tie a stone onto it and throw it into the middle of the Ferath,
Ferath: i.e., the Euphrates.
64. "and say, 'Bavel will sink just like this, and never rise, because of the trouble that I Myself am bringing on her.' Then they will grow faint.
Up to this point are the words of Yirmeyahu.
Perhaps the following chapter is thus a scribal addendum for explanatory purposes only.
CHAPTER 52
1. Tzidqiyahu was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim. Now his mother's name was Khamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah,
2. and he did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, just like all that Yehoyaqim had done,
3. because it was on [account of] YHWH’s anger in Yerushalayim and Yehudah (until He had sent them away from His presence) that Tzidqiyahu had rebelled against the king of Bavel.
4. Then in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nevukhadretzar king of Bavel (himself and his army) came against Yerushalayim and encamped up against it, and built siege-walls against it on every side.
This is about two weeks before the season that would later be celebrated as Hanukkah.
5. So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Tzidqiyahu,
Came under siege: literally, came into the siege-enclosure.
6. when, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the food shortage within the city became more severe, and there was no bread for the people of the Land.
7. Then the city was broken through, and all the men of war hurried out of the city at night by way of the gate between the double walls, which was above the king’s garden (though the Khasdim were up against the city all around) and went via the Aravah.
Double walls: LXX, between the wall and the outworks, i.e., an extra wall for added fortification. Aravah: the Great Rift Valley; the Yarden Valley at this point. Technically the term means "transitional zone" between arable land and desert.
8. But the Khasdim chased after the king and overtook Tzidqiyahu in the Aravah of Yericho, and his whole army was scattered from [being] with him.
9. When they had caught the king, they took him up to the king of Bavel at Rivlah in the territory of Khamath, where he pronounced sentences against him.
10. And the king of Bavel slaughtered Tzidqiyahu's sons in his sight (and he also slaughtered all the princes of Yehudah in Rivlah).
11. Then he blinded the eyes of Tzidqiyahu, and the king of Bavel bound him in brass [fetters], led him away to Bavel, and committed him to the house of custody until the day of his death.
Blinded the eyes: YHWH was only doing what He had told Israel to do--requiring an eye for an eye (Ex. 21:24), since Tzidqiyahu had done evil in YHWH's eyes (v. 2). YHWH also used this phrase "evil in his eyes" as a reason a man could put away his wife (Ex. 21:8), so here the king is legally the representative of all of Yehudah being put away for a time because when a king does evil, it blinds the people that he rules. Brass fetters: Brass is often symbolic in Scripture of the guilt resulting from sin and needing atonement. This was a sign that it was because of the sins of the kings of Israel that this was taking place. House of custody: perhaps a prison, but literally it means "house of visitation", from a root word meaning to oversee or look after; LXX, grinding-house. Being accustomed to luxury, he may not have survived long in such conditions.
12. But in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month (the year being the nineteenth year of King Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel), Nevuzar'adan (chief of the executioners who stood before the king of Bavel) arrived at Yerushalayim,
13. and burned the House of YHWH, the king's house, all the houses of Yerushalayim--that is, every house of [any] size,
It was on the tenth of the fifth month again that the Romans burned the Temple in 70 C.E.
14. and the whole army of the Khasdim who were with the chief of the executioners pulled down all the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.
15. Now the poor women of the people and the rest of the people who remained in the city and the fallen who prostrated themselves toward the king of Bavel, Nevuzar'adan, chief of the executioners, carried into exile.
Prostrated themselves: bowed in surrender.
16. But some of the poor women of the Land Nevuzar'adan left behind to [be] vinedressers and tillers [of the soil].
17. The Khasdim even broke the bronze pillars that were in the House of YHWH, their pedestal-bases, and the bronze "sea" that was in the House of YHWH, and carried all the bronze from them into Bavel.
Broke: They were too large to be carried whole. YHWH also broke His true treasure (the people of Israel) into many pieces in order to preserve it. Sea: i.e., the laver, where the priests on duty washed their hands and feet between tasks. It is a picture of the "sea of glass" before the throne in heaven (Rev. 4:6). The whole temple was a copy of the true heavenly "temple". (Heb. 8:5; 9:23-24) David had been shown a pattern of exactly how to build it. (1 Chron. 28:11-12)
18. They also took the pans, the shovels, the snuffers, the vessels for tossing [the blood], the spoons, the bronze implements with which [the priests] served,
19. and the chief of the executioners also took the pans to remove [the ashes from the altar], the cooking pots, the lampstands, spoons, and libation cups which were of gold and which were of silver, [respectively],
Spoons: LXX, censers (pans for carrying incense). It was the profaning of these utensils that cost Nevukhadretzar's successor his throne and his empire. (Daniel 5:2ff)
20. the two pillars, [the] one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the foundations that King Shlomo had made for YHWH's House. The bronze of all these articles was not weighed.
Not weighed: LXX, without weight, probably meaning it was too much to weigh. Bronze bulls: or oxen. Were these not like the golden calf Aharon had made, angering Moshe and YHWH? In this case, none of them was intended as representing YHWH, nor were they worshipped. They were bound to the earth, and were of bronze, speaking of their imperfection. The clue as to their significance is the number twelve, which is the number of the tribes of Israel. Mystically it is the strength of the tribes of Israel that upholds the heavens. (See note on v. 17.) That is, it gives a reason for YHWH's throne. The Infinite One needs nothing physical to sustain Him, but once He revealed Himself within an earthly context, if He had no kingdom to rule, He could not be a king.
21. [As for] the pillars, the standing-height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a twelve-cubit cable four fingers thick encircled it [completely], and it was hollow,
22. and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of one capital was five cubits, with ornamentation interwoven with pomegranates all around on the capital, all of bronze. And the second pillar corresponded to these, with pomegranates.
With pomegranates: LXX, eight pomegranates to a cubit for the twelve cubits.
23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a quadrant; all the pomegranates [numbered] a hundred over the interwoven ornamentation all around.
On a quadrant: literally, on the wind or on a spirit/breath. If there were 96 per side, there would be 384 on each column itself, plus 100 on each capital, making a total of 484 pomegranates in all on each pillar.
24. Now the chief of the executioners took Serayah the head priest, Tz'fanyah the second priest, and three threshold-guards.
Second priest: in rank; literally, the copy (Heb., mishneh), i.e., the one who would fill in for the head priest should he become ritually impure or otherwise unable to serve.
25. He also took from the city one eunuch who had been appointed overseer of the men of war, and seven men who attended to the king's presence who were found in the city, a scribe of the captain of the force who mustered the people of the Land, and sixty men of the people of the Land who were found within the city.
Men who attended: LXX, men of renown. Literally, who saw the face of the king. People of the Land: an idiom for commoners, not particularly learned.
26. Then Nevuzar'adan, chief of the executioners, seized them and made them walk to the king of Bavel at Rivlah,
27. and the king of Bavel was beating them and putting them to death at Rivlah in the territory of Khamath; thus Yehudah was removed [into exile] from off his Land.
28. This is the nation that Nevukhadretzar removed [into exile] in the seventh year: 3,023 Jews.
29. In Nevukhadretzar's eighteenth year, 832 [were removed] from Yerushalayim.
Apparently he "waited for the cream to rise to the top" to see who would turn out to be a natural leader among those still in the Land, then took those back home to enhance his kingdom, as he had with the first wave.
30. In Nevukhadretzar's twenty-third year, Nevuzar’adan, chief of the executioners, removed 745 Jewish souls [into exile]--4,600 souls in all.
Literally, every soul was 4,600.
31. Now what came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Yehoyakhin, king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, Ewil-M'rodakh, king of Bavel, raised the head of Yehoyakhin, king of Yehudah, and brought him from the prison,
Ewil-M'rodakh means "soldier of [the god of] his rebellion". Raised the head: the LXX adds, "and shaved him", probably the best way to disinfect him after dwelling in such conditions.
32. and he promised him better things, and assigned his throne higher than the thrones of the kings who were with him in Bavel,
Thrones…with him: Nevukhadretzar was shrewd in allowing the kings he had conquered to maintain their own thrones, for then their people would not rebel against him. After all, he was still a king, and was allied with the greatest king of his day. Zealots are hard for an empire to deal with, as Rome well knew, so Babylon accommodated them, but in doing so, took away their teeth. Since Babylon has continued in the form of a worldwide financial system, we can see the same pattern. It does nfot wish to eliminate religion, only to profit from it and make it serve its purposes, having a say in how it is carried out. Religion today is an honored throne, but it is recognized so that it can be controlled. Until it is the whole system that religion calls into question, it is allowed to operate with some freedom. But once the facade is exposed, it has as little actual power as the Wizard of Oz, so it placates the religious so they will not see through the smokescreen.
33. and he exchanged his garments of confinement, and he continued to eat bread in his presence all the days of his life,
34. and as to his ration, a constant stipend was allotted to him from [what was] with the king of Bavel—something [each] day on its day all the days of his life until the day of his death.
Something each day: literally, a day's word (matter, thing).
In summary, the judgments spoken of throughout Yirmeyahu and this chapter in regard to the Kingdom of Yehudah took place because the Land was not given its sabbatical years and because the kings of Israel were evil. Israel's purpose is to form a dwelling-place for YHWH. We stepped out of the 6 + 1 pattern, and because of this there were no building-blocks left, so it fell apart. The Temple service was no longer following His pattern either, so He let it be destroyed. But as Avraham's descendants who are "like the dust of the earth" (or Land), we make up the mystical aspect of the Land of Israel. And we are in the days of the restoration of all things as the spirit of Eliyahu (YHWH is Elohim) returns before the Day of YHWH. How, then, can we reverse this pattern and re-establish the foundation? Through following the same Sabbath pattern. We need to line our individual lives up with the pattern, not try to make it fit our schedules. His Kingdom is there waiting, but we cannot experience it until we walk in His patterns. But when we do, we can participate in YHWH's re-creation of His dwelling place, and thus the return to the Garden of Eden.
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