# did I ever say anything to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I appointed to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"
This has a quotation within a quotation and one rhetorical question inside another rhetorical question. The direct quotation can be stated as an indirect quotation, and the rhetorical questions can be translated as statements. Alternate translation: "did I ever ask any of Israel's leaders whom I appointed to shepherd my people Israel why they had not built me a house of cedar?" or "I never asked any of Israel's leaders whom I appointed to shepherd my people Israel why they had not built me a house of cedar." or "I never said anything to any of Israel's leaders whom I appointed to shepherd my people Israel. I never said, 'Why have you not built me a house of cedar.'" or "I never said anything to any of Israel's leaders whom I appointed to shepherd my people Israel. I never said, 'You should have built me a house of cedar.'" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-quotesinquotes]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-quotations]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])
The referent of "whom I appointed" is "anyone," not "tribes." Of those from the tribes of Israel whom he had appointed to shepherd, he had told none to build him a house.
Those who are leaders of the people of Israel are spoken of as if they were shepherds and the people were sheep. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor]])
If Yahweh had asked the leaders this question, he would have been using a question to scold them for not building him a house of cedar. But, Yahweh said previously that he did not ask them this question. Alternate translation: "You should have built me a house of cedar." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])
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