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JEREMIAH 21

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

(The parentheses represent poetic literary units)

NASB NKJV NRSV TEV NJB
Jeremiah's Message for Zedekiah Jerusalem's Doom Is Sealed Oracle Against Zedekiah and Jerusalem Jerusalem's Defeat Is Predicted Jeremiah Answers the Envoys of Zedekiah
21:1-2 21:1-2 21:1-2 21:1-2 21:1-7
21:3-7 21:3-7 21:3-7 21:3-7
21:8-10 21:8-10 21:8-10 21:8-10 21:8-10
Message to the House of David Oracles Concerning the Royal House
(21:11-23:8)		 Judgment on the Royal House of Judah Address to the Royal Family of Judah
21:11-12
(12)		 21:11-12
(12)		 21:11-14
(12-14)		 21:11-14 21:11-14
(12-14)
21:13-14
(13-14)		 21:13-14
(13-14)

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS

  1. Brief outline of messages to Judah's royal house, cf. Jer. 21:11-23:8
    1. Zedekiah (Mattaniah) ‒ Jer. 21:1-14
    2. Jehoahaz (Shallum) ‒ Jer. 22:10-12
    3. Jehoiakim (Eliakim) ‒ Jer. 22:13-19
    4. Jehoiakim (Coniah) ‒ Jer. 22:24-30

  2. Zedekiah (BDB 843), another of Josiah's sons, was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon (cf. 2 Kgs. 24:17). He reigned from 597-586 B.C. He was king when Jerusalem fell. He was loyal to Babylon for eight years. Then a pro-Egyptian nationalist party persuaded him to revolt. See Appendix Four: Kings of the Divided Kingdom.

    SPECIAL TOPIC: KINGS OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOM

  3. This section of Jeremiah is much more clearly linked to its historical settings. The specifics of
    1. time
    2. place
    3. proper names
      abound!

  4. The house of David had all the wonderful ("eternal") promises of 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17, but they, too, were conditional!

    SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER ('olam)

    SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT

  5. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem several times: 605 B.C., 597 B.C., 586 B.C., and 582 B.C. They destroyed the city and temple in 586 B.C.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JEREMIAH 21:1-2
1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, 2"Please inquire of the Lord on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us."

21:1 "Pashhur" This is different from the priest/false prophet by the same name in Jer. 20:1 (see note there).

▣ "Zephaniah" This priest is also mentioned in Jer. 29:25,29; 37:3; 52:24; 2 Kgs. 25:18-21. He was assistant to the High Priest.

21:2 "inquire" This Qal IMPERATIVE (BDB 205, KB 233) means to petition God on behalf of another (cf. Jer. 37:7; Ezek. 20:1,3). One Aramaic Targum translates it as "pray." Zedekiah requests that YHWH act on Judah's behalf against Babylon as He had done in the past (i.e., Isaiah 36-39). It was part of the covenant promises especially related to the conquest of Canaan in 2 Kings 18 from Isaiah to Hezekiah.

▣ "Nebuchadnezzar" The spelling here is closer to the Babylonian spelling. It (BDB 613, KB 660) means "Nebo protect the boundary" or "Nebo protect the heir to the crown." The normal Hebrew spelling with an "N" may reflect a sarcastic corruption, "Nebo protect my mule." The Jews loved to add vowels or consonants that made a name refer to something shameful.

SPECIAL TOPIC: HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE POWERS OF MESOPOTAMIA

▣ "wonderful acts" The king was hoping for a repeat of Isa. 37:36-37 or the "Holy War" of the Exodus or Joshua's conquest of Canaan (cf. Jer. 32:16-25).

SPECIAL TOPIC: WONDERFUL THINGS

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JEREMIAH 21:3-7
3Then Jeremiah said to them, "You shall say to Zedekiah as follows: 4'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, "Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center of this city. 5I Myself will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and great indignation. 6I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. 7Then afterwards," declares the Lord , "I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion."'

21:4-7 This is not the answer from YHWH that Zedekiah was praying for. He wanted covenant mercy and promises without covenant faith and faithfulness!

YHWH spells out in graphic terms the "wonderful acts" He will do to faithless Judah/Jerusalem.

  1. YHWH will not fight for Judah but will be with the Babylonian army (cf. Jer. 32:5; 33:5; 37:8-10; 38:2,17,18).
  2. YHWH's actions and emotions are described as (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS HUMAN [anthropomorphism])
    1. an outstretched hand (cf. Exod. 6:6)
    2. a mighty arm (cf. Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8)
    3. angry
    4. full of wrath
    5. greatly indignant
    6. setting His face against Jerusalem, Jer. 21:10
    7. for harm and not for good, Jer. 21:10
    8. giving Jerusalem to the king of Babylon to burn, Jer. 21:10
  3. Like "Holy War" (cf. Joshua 6), all that breathes, human and animal, will die.
  4. The Davidic seed, Zedekiah, and his house and the survivors of the siege will be exiled.
  5. Nebuchadnezzar will act as YHWH's representative in judgment.
    1. will not spare
    2. will not have pity
    3. will not have compassion (cf. Jer. 13:14; 16:5)

This is what the covenant people could not comprehend. YHWH, their God, fighting against them and His own temple! They had missed the key ingredients of

  1. faith
  2. faithfulness

The wonderful covenant with Abraham had conditions (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-28) and consequences!

SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT

21:4 "Chaldeans" This was the racial identity of southern Babylon; later the term became the title of the entire nation.

Herodotus (450 B.C.), Hist. I, uses this term to refer to an ethnic group (cf. 2 Kgs. 24:1-4; Dan. 5:30) as well as a priestly class (cf. Dan. 2:2; 3:8; 4:7; 5:7,11) whose usage goes back to Cyrus II. Even before this Assyrian records used the term (BDB 505) in an ethnic sense (cf. R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 1113). Also read the good discussion of the possibility of a confusion of two similar terms (i.e., Kal-du vs. Kasdu) in The Expositors Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 14-15 or Robert Dick Wilson, Studies in the Book of Daniel, series 1.

Because Gen. 11:28 states that Ur of the Chaldeans was the home of Terah and his family, Chaldeans may have been ethnically Semitic (i.e., same racial group as the Hebrews).

SPECIAL TOPIC: CHALDEANS

21:5 "with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm" See full note at Jer. 27:5.

21:7 There are several groups of Judeans addressed.

  1. the king and his family
  2. the royal servants (BDB 713)
    1. of his house
    2. of the government
    3. religious advisors
  3. the army (lit. "the people," BDB 766 I)
  4. the remaining remnant (lit. "who survive," BDB 983, Niphal PARTICIPLE
  5. in v. 9 another group is mentioned ‒ those who surrender to the Babylonians

▣ "pestilence, the sword, and the famine" These are the typical description of the results of invasion and siege warfare (cf. Jer. 14:12). All of the surrounding villages gathered to the walled cities. Food, water, and sanitation became compromised.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JEREMIAH 21:8-10
8"You shall also say to this people, 'Thus says the Lord , "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty. 10For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good," declares the Lord . "It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire."'

21:8-10 This describes the conditional nature of the covenant. A good parallel text is Deut. 30:15-18, which Jeremiah seems to allude to. I have included my notes from that commentary here.

Deut. 30:15 "I have set before you today life and prosperity or death and adversity" Even covenant Israel had to choose! This is referring to the blessing and cursing (cf. Deuteronomy 27-28). Remember the choice is set in a covenant of grace. This is very similar to Wisdom Literature's idiom of the "two ways" (cf. Pro. 4:10-19; Jer. 21:8; Matt. 7:13-14). Our choices show who we are! How we respond to life's inexplicable "in and outs" reveals our spiritual orientation!

Deut. 30:16-18 These verses are a summary of covenant conditions and consequences:

  1. the responsibility (cf. Jer. 8:6; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9)
    1. "to love the Lord," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 12, KB 17, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT)
    2. "walk in His ways," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 229, KB 246, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT)
    3. "keep His commandments," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal INFINITIVE)
  2. the consequences of obedience
    1. "you may live," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 310, KB 309, Qal PERFECT with waw)
    2. "you may multiply," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 915, KB 1156, Qal PERFECT with waw)
    3. "your God may bless you," Jer. 21:16 (BDB 138, KB 159, Piel PERFECT with waw)
  3. the conditions and consequences of disobedience
    1. "if your heart turns away," Jer. 21:17 (BDB 815, KB 937, Qal IMPERFECT)
    2. "if you will not obey," Jer. 21:17; (BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERFECT)
    3. idolatry
      (1) drawn away (BDB 623, KB 673, Niphil PERFECT with waw)
      (2) worship (BDB 1005, KB 295, Hishtaphel PERFECT with waw)
      (3) serve (BDB 712, KB 773, Qal PERFECT with waw)
    4. "you shall surely perish," Jer. 21:18 (BDB 1, KB 2, Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and Qal IMPERFECT, which expresses intensity)
    5. "you shall not prolong your days," Jer. 21:18 (BDB 73, KB 88, Hiphil IMPERFECT)

Notice how v. 20 reinforces these covenant responsibilities so that the Patriarchal blessing can be fulfilled! This terminology is characteristic of Deuteronomy.

In this context the term "life" refers to physical deliverance from death at the hands of the Babylonian army. The Deuteronomy passage refers to the blessings of the obeyed covenant of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27-29.

21:9 "he who goes out. . .will live" Jeremiah is asserting YHWH's promise that if they surrender (cf. Jer. 38:2; 39:18; 45:5) they will be exiled but will live.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JEREMIAH 21:11-12
11"Then say to the household of the king of Judah, 'Hear the word of the Lord,
12O house of David, thus says the Lord:
        "Administer justice every morning;
          And deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor,
         That My wrath may not go forth like fire
         And burn with none to extinguish it,
         Because of the evil of their deeds.

21:11-14 These are words to the royal Davidic house. Some English translations have one strophe, some two. The reason this information is important is that each strophe, like each paragraph, has one main truth/point. Outlining by strophe/paragraph an interpreter can find the intent of the original author more clearly.

See "Bible Interpretation Seminar".

21:12 YHWH seems still to hold open the chance that Judah's leadership may repent, as seen in their actions.

  1. administer justice every morning (BDB 192, KB 220, Qal IMPERATIVE, cf. Jer. 7:5; 22:3; probably at the city gate, early each day)
  2. deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor (BDB 664, KB 717, Hiphil IMPERATIVE)

If they change (cf. 1 Kgs. 6:12-13) then YHWH will relent of the judgment He plans to send but if not, "wrath. . .fire" (cf. Jer. 4:4).

SPECIAL TOPIC: PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JEREMIAH 21:13-14
13"Behold, I am against you, O valley dweller,
O rocky plain," declares the Lord,
"You men who say, 'Who will come down against us?
Or who will enter into our habitations?'
14But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds," declares the Lord,
"And I will kindle a fire in its forest
That it may devour all its environs."'"

21:13-14 These two verses address those Judeans who live in the hills and remote valleys of Judah. They thought they would be safe, but not so!

 

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