Jeremiah Spared

11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders regarding (A)Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, 12 “Take him and [a]look after him, and (B)do not do anything harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the [b]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the [c]Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; 14 they even sent word and (C)took Jeremiah out of the courtyard of the guardhouse and entrusted him to (D)Gedaliah, the son of (E)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 39:12 Lit set your eyes on
  2. Jeremiah 39:13 I.e., chief official
  3. Jeremiah 39:13 I.e., title of a high official

11 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had issued orders concerning Jeremiah. He had passed them on through Nebuzaradan, the captain of his royal guard,[a] 12 “Find Jeremiah[b] and look out for him.[c] Do not do anything to harm him,[d] but do with him whatever he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan (the captain of the royal guard), Nebushazban (who was a chief officer), Nergal Sharezer (who was a high official),[e] and all the other officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah,[f] the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him.[g] But Jeremiah stayed among the people.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 39:11 tn Heb “And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded concerning Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying.” Since Nebuchadnezzar is at Riblah (v. 6), and Nebuzaradan and the other officers named in the next verse are at Jerusalem, the vav consecutive imperfect should again be translated as a pluperfect (see 38:2 and the translator’s notes there for explanation). For the meaning of “through” or “through the agency of” for the phrase בְּיַד (beyad), see BDB 391 s.v. יָד 5.d. The sentence has been broken up to better conform with contemporary English style.
  2. Jeremiah 39:12 tn Heb “Get [or fetch] him.” The referent is supplied for clarity.
  3. Jeremiah 39:12 tn Or “take care of him”; Heb “set your eyes on him.” For the meaning of this idiom see BDB 963 s.v. שִׂים 2.c and compare 24:6, where the phrase “for good” is added.
  4. Jeremiah 39:12 tn Heb “Don’t do anything evil [= harmful] to him.”
  5. Jeremiah 39:13 tn See the translator’s notes on 39:3, 9 for the names and titles here.
  6. Jeremiah 39:14 sn Gedaliah. This is the first reference to this individual, whom Nebuchadnezzar appointed governor over the people who were left to live in Judah (cf. 40:5; 2 Kgs 25:22). His father was the man who spoke up for Jeremiah when he was accused of being a false prophet by some of the priests and prophets (26:24). His grandfather was the royal secretary under Josiah who brought the discovery of the book of the law to Josiah’s attention, read it to him, and was involved in helping Josiah institute his reforms (2 Kgs 22:8-10).
  7. Jeremiah 39:14 tn Heb “to bring him into the house.” However, it is unclear whether “the house” refers to Jeremiah’s house or to Gedaliah’s. The fact that Nebuzaradan later offers Jeremiah the option of going back to Gedaliah (40:5) suggests it is Gedaliah’s house, where Jeremiah would be looked out for in accord with Nebuchadnezzar’s command (v. 12).
  8. Jeremiah 39:14 tn Many translate this last clause as a conclusion or summary remark, “So Jeremiah stayed…” However, it is better to translate it as an adversative because it probably refers to the fact that, rather than staying with Gedaliah in the governor’s residence, Jeremiah stayed among the people. That is how he wound up being led off as a prisoner to Ramah. See further the study note on 40:1. According to IBHS 550 §33.2.1d, the vav (ו) consecutive can have either of these values (see examples 11 and 12 for the adversative or contrastive nuance).