Verses 34-35 are essentially the same as 7.30-31. See there for discussion of these verses.
We note that here Baal and Molech are identified (verse 35). Since Molech is a distortion of the Hebrew word for king (melech) with the vowels for the word meaning “shame” (bosheth), it is thought that Molech may be a title developed by the Hebrews to express contempt. As in Good News Translation, translators can say “the god Molech.”
That they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin: They in this expression seems to refer to the people of Judah and Israel listed in verse 32. This makes to cause Judah to sin a little confusing. One possible way to understand it is that the actions of a few have made the whole nation guilty of sin. Translators could therefore translate the last part of this verse “… and make the nation Judah guilty of sin.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.