6 July 2017 Navigate up to scripture index: index-passages.
Jeremiah 39:3 is a tricky verse. It’s a verse that cannot be rightly understood from the Hebrew alone. The Hebrew text records that “all the officials” of Nebuchadnezzar sat in the gate of Jerusalem when it was conquered. The Masoretic Text reads, with the tricky part transliterated and the rest translated. I’m following the vowels and hyphens inserted by the Masoretes over 1000 years after the Hebrew text itself was written.
And all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down in the middle gate: nergal sar-etser samgar-nebo sar-sekim rab-saris nergal sar-etser rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
Any discussion of this verse prior to 2007 is out of date, because in 2007 a tablet was discovered by Michael Jursa which contains a reference to a Nabu-sharussu-ukin who was (a? the?) rab-sha-reshi. This contradicts, and supersedes, the division of names implied by the Masoretes.
We may now read, with John Hobbins, the following (his translation):
All of the officers of the king of Babylon made their entry, and occupied the middle gate – Nergal-šarri-uṣur governor of Sinmagir, Nabu-šarrussu-ukin the Rab-ša-rēši, Nergal-šarri-uṣur the Rab-mugi, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.
For an in-depth discussion, with links to other discussions, I recommend starting here.