Jeremiah 36:21-23

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 36:21 tn Heb “and Jehudi read it.” However, Jehudi has been the subject of the preceding; so it would be awkward in English to use the personal subject. The translation has chosen to bring out the idea that Jehudi himself read it by using the reflexive.
2. Jeremiah 36:22 tn Heb “in the autumn house.” Commentators are agreed that this was not a separate building or palace but the winter quarters in the palace.sn Larger houses, including the palace, were two-storied buildings with a lower quarters better insulated for the cold of winter and an upper quarters better ventilated to provide cool in the summer. Since this was the ninth month (December), the king had taken up residence in the lower, warmer quarters, which were equipped with a portable fire pot or brazier to keep him warm.
3. Jeremiah 36:22 tc Heb “the fire in the firepot was burning before him.” The translation assumes that the word “fire” (אֵשׁ, ʾesh) has dropped out after the particle אֶת (ʾet) because of the similar beginnings of the two words. The word “fire” is found in the Greek, Syriac, and Targumic translations according to BHS. The particle אֵת should be retained rather than dropped as an erroneous writing of אֵשׁ. Its presence is to be explained as use of the sign of the accusative to introduce a new subject (cf. BDB 85 s.v. אֶת 3.α and compare the usage in 27:8; 38:16 [in the Kethib]; and 45:4).
4. Jeremiah 36:23 tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way, but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.
5. Jeremiah 36:23 tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.
6. Jeremiah 36:23 sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor normally trimmed the sheets to be sewn together, scraped them in preparation for writing, and erased errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll served to destroy it.
7. Jeremiah 36:23 tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire that was in the fire pot.”