Yeremia 52:4-7

52:4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. ¹  They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ²  52:5 The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month ³  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ⁴  had no food. 52:7 They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ⁵  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ⁶ 

Yeremia 52:2

52:2 He did what displeased the Lord ⁷  just as Jehoiakim had done.

Kisah Para Rasul 25:1-7

Paul Appeals to Caesar

25:1 Now ⁸  three days after Festus ⁹  arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem ¹⁰  from Caesarea. ¹¹  25:2 So the chief priests and the most prominent men ¹²  of the Jews brought formal charges ¹³  against Paul to him. 25:3 Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, ¹⁴  they urged Festus ¹⁵  to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush ¹⁶  to kill him along the way. 25:4 Then Festus ¹⁷  replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, ¹⁸  and he himself intended to go there ¹⁹  shortly. 25:5 “So,” he said, “let your leaders ²⁰  go down there ²¹  with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, ²²  they may bring charges ²³  against him.”

25:6 After Festus ²⁴  had stayed ²⁵  not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, ²⁶  and the next day he sat ²⁷  on the judgment seat ²⁸  and ordered Paul to be brought. 25:7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, ²⁹  bringing many serious ³⁰  charges that they were not able to prove. ³¹ 

Yehezkiel 24:1-2

The Boiling Pot

24:1 The word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month ³² : 24:2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege ³³  to Jerusalem ³⁴  this very day.

Zakharia 8:19

8:19 “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth ³⁵  months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

[52:4]  ¹ tn Or “against.”

[52:4]  ² sn This would have been January 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

[52:6]  ³ sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

[52:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the people of the land.”

[52:7]  ⁵ sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.

[52:7]  ⁶ sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.

[52:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[25:1]  ⁸ tn BDAG 736-37 s.v. οὖν 2.b states, “οὖν serves to indicate a transition to someth. new…now, then, well…Ac 25:1.”

[25:1]  ⁹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:1]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:1]  ¹¹ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of 65 mi (just over 100 km).

[25:1]  map For location see Map2 C1; Map4 B3; Map5 F2; Map7 A1; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:2]  ¹² tn BDAG 893-94 s.v. πρῶτος 2.a.β has “οἱ πρῶτοι the most prominent men, the leading men w. gen. of the place…or of a group…οἱ πρ. τοῦ λαοῦ…Lk 19:47; cp. Ac 25:2; 28:17.”

[25:2]  ¹³ tn BDAG 326 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 3 has “ἐ. τινὶ κατά τινος bring formal charges against someone…Ac 24:1; 25:2.”

[25:2]  sn Note how quickly the Jewish leadership went after Paul: They brought formal charges against him within three days of Festus’ arrival in the province.

[25:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Requesting a favor against him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation, the understood direct object of “requesting” has been supplied, and the phrase “to do them” supplied for clarity.

[25:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “they urged him” are in v. 2 in the Greek text.

[25:3]  ¹⁶ sn Planning an ambush. The Jewish leadership had not forgotten the original plan of several years ago (see 23:16). They did not trust the Roman legal process, but preferred to take matters into their own hands.

[25:4]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:4]  ¹⁸ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

[25:4]  ¹⁹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[25:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).

[25:5]  ²¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[25:5]  ²² tn Grk “and if there is anything wrong with this man,” but this could be misunderstood in English to mean a moral or physical defect, while the issue in context is the commission of some crime, something legally improper (BDAG 149 s.v. ἄτοπος 2).

[25:5]  ²³ tn BDAG 533 s.v. κατηγορέω 1 states, “nearly always as legal t.t.: bring charges in court.” L&N 33.427 states for κατηγορέω, “to bring serious charges or accusations against someone, with the possible connotation of a legal or court context – ‘to accuse, to bring charges.”

[25:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:6]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.

[25:6]  ²⁶ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

[25:6]  map For location see Map2 C1; Map4 B3; Map5 F2; Map7 A1; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[25:6]  ²⁸ tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse, and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), since the bhma was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here.

[25:6]  sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city.

[25:7]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 801 s.v. περιίστημι 1.a has “περιέστησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι the Judeans stood around him 25:7.”

[25:7]  ³⁰ tn Grk “many and serious.” The term βαρύς (barus) refers to weighty or serious charges (BDAG 167 s.v. 1).

[25:7]  ³¹ tn The term ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeiknumi) in a legal context refers to legal proof (4 Macc 1:8; BDAG 108 s.v. 3).

[24:1]  ³² tn The date of this oracle was January 15, 588 b.c.

[24:2]  ³³ tn Heb “lean on, put pressure on.”

[24:2]  ³⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:19]  ³⁵ sn The fasts of the fifth and seventh months, mentioned previously (7:5), are listed here along with the observances of the fourth and tenth months. The latter commemorated the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians on January 15, 588 b.c. (2 Kgs 25:1), and the former the breach of the city walls on or about July 18, 586 b.c. (Jer 39:2-5).