Jeremiah 37:6-10
New Living Translation
6 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 7 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The king of Judah sent you to ask me what is going to happen. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you. 8 Then the Babylonians[a] will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.’
9 “This is what the Lord says: Do not fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t! 10 Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!”
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Jeremiah 37:6-10
New English Translation
6 The Lord’s message came to the prophet Jeremiah, 7 “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said, ‘This is what you must say to the king of Judah who sent you to seek my help.[a] “Beware,[b] Pharaoh’s army that was on its way to help you is about to go back home to Egypt.[c] 8 Then the Babylonian forces[d] will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down. 9 Moreover, I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces[e] will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away.[f] 10 For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces[g] fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.”’”[h]
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- Jeremiah 37:7 tn Heb “to seek me.” The verb דָּרַשׁ (darash) could imply “inquiring” to gain information about what will happen, including a prophetic oracle (cf. 1 Kgs 14:5; 2 Kgs 8:8), but could also denote “seeking help” from someone (cf. Isa 31:1; 2 Chr 16:12; 20:3), perhaps via prayer (see v. 3). Both may be involved here, as a praying prophet might receive a message from the Lord.
- Jeremiah 37:7 tn Heb “Take note.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here calls attention to a warning and syntactically sets up the following participle to indicate the near future (“is about to”).
- Jeremiah 37:7 tn Heb “will go back to its land, Egypt.”
- Jeremiah 37:8 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Jeremiah 37:9 tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the rendering “Babylonian.” The word “forces” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Jeremiah 37:9 tn Heb “Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from against us,” because they will not go away.’” The first person, “I, the Lord,” has been used because the whole of vv. 7-8 has been a quote from the Lord, and it would be confusing to go back and start a separate quote. The use of indirect rather than direct quotation avoids proliferation of quote marks at the end and the possible confusion that creates.
- Jeremiah 37:10 tn Heb “all the army of the Chaldeans.” For the rendering “Babylonian” in place of Chaldean, see the study note on 21:4.
- Jeremiah 37:10 tn The condition here is, of course, purely hypothetical, and the consequence is a poetic exaggeration. The intent is to assure Zedekiah that there is absolutely no hope of the city being spared.
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