Have you ever noticed in some of your Bible readings the rows of inverted commas at the beginning and ends of certain paragraphs? Take for example Jeremiah 27:11 in the New World Translation.
This passage starts with => " ' " '
and ends with => ' " ' "
Certain basic principles of punctuation in English come into play here, wherein quotes of an individual within the quotes of another require a set of double and single quotation marked in order to open and close each sequence.
However, as one person put it said, that "trying to follow the sequence from
Jeremiah 27:1 until verse 11 makes for an interesting puzzle to solve." For this reason I have taken this passage and color encoded it, as well as have embedded some comments, in order to help resolve this 'puzzle'.
Note: Not all browsers will have the same color standards, however the following should be visible on Netscape, IE, and Opera. Text browsers may not be compatible. However the gist of the comments can probably be enough to glean who's quoting who when.
Legend:
My comments, or the verse number.
Jeremiah, plainly speaking.
Jeremiah quoting himself.
Jeremiah quoting himself quoting Jehovah.
Jeremiah quoting himself quoting Jehovah quoting Jeremiah.
Jeremiah quoting himself quoting Jehovah quoting Jeremiah quoting Jehovah.
Jeremiah quoting himself quoting Jehovah quoting Jeremiah quoting Jehovah quoting false prophets.
BELOW start: no quotes
1 In the beginning of the kingdom of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word occurred to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:
BELOW open: Jeremiah quoting himself
2 "This is what Jehovah has said to me,
open: Jeremiah quoting himself quoting Jehovah
`Make for yourself bands and yoke bars, and you must put them upon your neck. 3 And you must send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the sons of Ammon and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who are coming to Jerusalem to Zedekiah the king of Judah. 4 And you must give them a command for their masters, saying:
BELOW ignore: the first double and only single quote
open: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say
"`"This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said; this is what you should say to your masters,
open: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
5 `I myself have made the earth, mankind and the beasts that are upon the surface of the earth by my great power and by my stretched-out arm; and I have given it to whom it has proved right in my eyes. 6 And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations must serve even him and his son and his grandson until the time even of his own land comes, and many nations and great kings must exploit him as a servant.'
ABOVE close: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
BELOW Still open: Jeremiah quoting himself; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say
reopened: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
8 "'"'And it must occur that the nation and the kingdom that will not serve him, even Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon; and the one that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence I shall turn my attention upon that nation,' is the utterance of Jehovah, `until I shall have finished them off by his hand.'
ABOVE, reclosed, then reopened, then closed again: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
BELOW Still open: Jeremiah quoting himself; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say
reopened: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
9 "'"'And as for you men, do not listen to your prophets and to your practicers of divination and to your dreamers and to your practicers of magic and to your sorcerers, who are saying to you: "You men will not serve the king of Babylon. " 10 For falsehood is what they are prophesying to you, for the purpose of having you taken far away from off your ground; and I shall have to disperse you, and you will have to perish.
ABOVE opened then closed: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah, quoting false prophets
BELOW Still open: Jeremiah quoting himself; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
11 "'"'And as for the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and actually serve him, I will also let it rest upon its ground,' is the utterance of Jehovah, `and it will certainly cultivate it and dwell in it.'"'"
ABOVE closed then reopened: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah
finally closed: Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say, quoting Jehovah; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah, quoting what Jeremiah is to say; Jeremiah quoting himself, quoting Jehovah; Jeremiah quoting himself
This brings us back to Jeremiah plainly speaking, as verse 12 indicates.
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