18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’?(A) 20 So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you.(B) Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard’s courtyard.(C) He was given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers’ street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard.

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18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?[a] 19 Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that[b] the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land? 20 But now please listen, your royal Majesty,[c] and grant my plea for mercy.[d] Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.”[e] 21 Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread[f] be given to him every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept[g] in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

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Notas al pie

  1. Jeremiah 37:18 tn Heb “What crime have I committed against you, or your servants, or this people that you [masc. pl.] have put me in prison?” Some of the terms have been expanded for clarification, and the sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style. The masculine plural is used here because Zedekiah is being addressed as representative of the whole group previously named.
  2. Jeremiah 37:19 tn Heb “And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’” The indirect quote has been used in the translation because of its simpler, more direct style.
  3. Jeremiah 37:20 tn Heb “My lord, the king.”
  4. Jeremiah 37:20 tn Heb “let my plea for mercy fall before you.” That is, let it come before you and be favorably received (= granted; by metonymical extension).
  5. Jeremiah 37:20 tn Or “So that I will not die there,” or “or I will die there”; Heb “and I will not die there.” The particle that introduces this clause (וְלֹא) regularly introduces negative purpose clauses after the volitive sequence (אַל [ʾal] + jussive here) according to GKC 323 §109.g. However, purpose and result clauses in Hebrew (and Greek) are often indistinguishable. Here the clause is more in the nature of a negative result.
  6. Jeremiah 37:21 tn Heb “And/Then King Zedekiah ordered, and they committed Jeremiah to [or deposited…in] the courtyard of the guardhouse and they gave to him a loaf of bread.” The translation has been structured the way it has to avoid the ambiguous “they,” which is the impersonal subject, which is sometimes rendered as passive in English (cf. GKC 460 §144.d). This text also has another example of the vav (ו) + infinitive absolute continuing a finite verbal form (וְנָתֹן [venaton] = “and they gave”; cf. GKC 345 §113.y and see Jer 32:44 and 36:23).
  7. Jeremiah 37:21 tn Heb “stayed,” “remained,” “lived.”