Jeremiah 41:6-8

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 41:6 tn Heb “he was weeping/crying.” The translation is intended to better reflect the situation.
2. Jeremiah 41:6 tn Heb “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” The words supplied in the translation are implicit to the situation and added for clarity.
3. Jeremiah 41:7 tn The words “and threw their bodies” result from the significant use of the preposition אֶל (ʾel, so GKC 384 §119.gg and BDB 39 s.v. אֶל 1). Hence the suggestion in BHS that the Syriac and two Greek mss are reading a different text is not really a textual issue but a translational one; the versions are supplying the words for stylistic purposes, as has been done here.
4. Jeremiah 41:8 tn Heb “But there were ten men found among them and they said.” However, for the use of “were found” = “be, happened to be” see BDB 594 s.v. מָצָא 2.c and compare the usage in 41:3.
5. Jeremiah 41:8 tn This sentence is a good example of the elliptical nature of some of the causal connections in the Hebrew Bible. All the Hebrew says literally is, “For we have hidden stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey in a field.” However, it is obvious that they are using this as their bargaining chip to prevent Ishmael and his men from killing them. For the use of “for” (כִּי, ki) for such elliptical thoughts see BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c.
6. Jeremiah 41:8 tn Or “So he refrained from killing them”; Heb “he refrained and did not kill them.”
7. Jeremiah 41:8 tn Heb “in the midst of their brothers/fellow countrymen.”