Jeremiah 13:18-19
18 The Lord told me, ▼“Tell the king and the queen mother,
‘Surrender your thrones, ▼
▼ Or “You will come down from your thrones”; Heb “Make low! Sit!” This is a case of a construction where two forms in the same case, mood, or tense are joined in such a way that one (usually the first) is intended as an adverbial or adjectival modifier of the other (a figure called hendiadys). This is also probably a case where the imperative is used to express a distinct assurance or promise. See GKC 324 #110.b and compare the usage in Isa 37:30 and Ps 110:2.
▼▼ The king and queen mother are generally identified as Jehoiachin and his mother who were taken into captivity with many of the leading people of Jerusalem in 597 b.c. See Jer 22:26; 29:2; 2 Kgs 24:14–16.
for your glorious crowns
will be removed ▼
▼ Heb “have come down.” The verb here and those in the following verses are further examples of the “as good as done” form of the Hebrew verb (the prophetic perfect).
from your heads. ▼▼ The translation follows the common emendation of a word normally meaning “place at the head” (מַרְאֲשׁוֹת [mar’ashot] plus pronoun = מַרְאֲוֹשׁתֵיכֶם [mar’aoshtekhem]) to “from your heads” (מֵרָאשֵׁיכֶם, mera’shekhem) following the ancient versions. The meaning “tiara” is nowhere else attested for this word.
19 The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight. ▼
▼ Heb “The towns of the Negev will be shut.”
No one will be able to go in or out of them. ▼
All Judah will be carried off into exile.
They will be completely carried off into exile.’” ▼
▼ The statements are poetic exaggerations (hyperbole), as most commentaries note. Even in the exile of 587 b.c. not “all” of the people of Jerusalem or of Judah were exiled. Cf. the context of 2 Kgs 24:14–16 again.
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