Jeremiah 21

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, at the time when King Zedekiah sent two men to him: Pashur son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah. They said to Jeremiah,

1The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

NoteZedekiah was the last king of Judah. Babylon had put him on the throne as a vassal ruler about ten years earlier, after deporting his predecessor; this scene comes after he rebelled and a Babylonian army arrived to besiege Jerusalem. The two men he sends are official envoys, a priest and a court official, not friends of Jeremiah. This Pashur, son of Melchiah, is a different man from the Pashur son of Immer who had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks in the previous chapter.

2"Please ask the LORD about this for us, because Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war on us. Perhaps the LORD will do for us something like all the wonders he has done before, so that Nebuchadrezzar will pull back and leave us alone."

2Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

Note"Ask the LORD about this" translates a set phrase for formally consulting a prophet to obtain an oracle, the standard way a king sought a divine answer before or during a war. "Nebuchadrezzar" is a spelling of the name closer to the original Babylonian form; it is the same king usually spelled "Nebuchadnezzar" elsewhere. The King James "that he may go up from us" is an idiom for an army breaking off a siege and marching away, which is what the rendering means by "pull back."

3Then Jeremiah said to them, "Here is what you are to tell Zedekiah:

3Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:

4This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to turn back against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, the ones you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who have you surrounded outside the wall. And I will gather them into the middle of this city.

4Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.

NoteThe Chaldeans were the ruling people of Babylon at this time; "Chaldean" and "Babylonian" are used interchangeably in this book. A besieging army camped outside the city wall and cut it off, waiting for hunger and disease to do the work. The Hebrew of the last line is compressed and can be read two ways: that God will gather the defenders' own weapons into the middle of the city, or that he will gather the Babylonian forces there.

5I myself will fight against you, with my hand stretched out and my arm strong, in anger, in fury, and in great rage.

5And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

Note"With my hand stretched out and my arm strong" is the fixed phrase used throughout the Hebrew Bible for God rescuing Israel out of Egypt. Here the same words are aimed at Jerusalem itself, the point of the wording is that the rescue language has been reversed.

6I will strike down everyone living in this city, both people and animals. They will die in a terrible plague.

6And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.

Note"Plague" here renders a word for any deadly epidemic, not one specific disease. Sword, famine, and plague appear together repeatedly in Jeremiah as the three standard consequences of a siege.

7After that, says the LORD, I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the people of this city who are left alive after the plague, the sword, and the famine. I will hand them over to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, to their enemies, to those who want them dead. He will cut them down with the sword. He will not spare them, or feel pity, or show mercy.

7And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

Note"Hand over into the hand of" is the ordinary Hebrew idiom for putting someone in another's power, with no gesture implied. "His officials" translates a word literally meaning "his servants," which in a royal setting means court officers and staff, not slaves.

8And to this people you are to say: This is what the LORD says: Look, I am setting in front of you the way of life and the way of death.

8And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

9Anyone who stays in this city will die by the sword, by hunger, or by plague. But anyone who goes out and gives himself up to the Chaldeans who have you surrounded will live. He will get out alive, and that will be all he gets.

9He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

NoteDeserting to the enemy during a siege was treason, punishable by death, which is why this instruction was so inflammatory. The last clause translates a Hebrew idiom, literally "his life shall be to him as spoil", meaning a deserter walks away with nothing but his own skin, the way a soldier walks off a battlefield carrying only what he has seized.

10For I have set my face against this city to bring harm and not good, says the LORD. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

10For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

Note"Set my face against" is an idiom for turning deliberate, settled hostility toward someone, the opposite of the idiom for turning one's face toward a person in favor.

11And about the royal family of Judah, say this: Listen to the word of the LORD.

11And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

Note"The royal family" translates "the house of the king", in Hebrew, "house" covers the dynasty, the household and its officials, and the palace building itself, and all three senses are in play through the rest of this chapter.

12House of David, this is what the LORD says: Judge people fairly, morning after morning. Rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of the one crushing him. If you do not, my fury will break out like fire and burn, and no one will be able to put it out, because of the evil things you have done.

12O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Note"House of David" means the ruling dynasty descended from David, addressed as a single body. Hearing legal cases was a king's job, and it was done in the morning, at the city gate, before the day's heat, "morning after morning" means both promptly and as a standing routine, not at some special hour. "The one who has been robbed" is a term for anyone stripped of property or rights by force.

13Look, I am against you, you who live above the valley, on the rocky flatland, says the LORD. You are the ones who say, "Who can come down against us? Who can get inside our homes?"

13Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

NoteThe geography is disputed. The words translated "you who live above the valley, on the rocky flatland" have been understood as Jerusalem itself, perched on rock above the ravines that flank it, and also as a taunt aimed at some other stronghold. The two questions quoted back are the boast of people who think their site cannot be stormed.

14But I will punish you for what your deeds have produced, says the LORD. I will light a fire in your forest, and it will burn up everything around it.

14But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

Note"Your forest" may be literal woodland, or may be a jab at the royal palace complex, known as "the House of the Forest of Lebanon" because of its rows of cedar pillars. Either reading works, and the Hebrew keeps both open.