Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 21:8 tn Heb “And/But unto this people you shall say…” “But” is suggested here by the unusual word order, which offsets what they are to say to Zedekiah (v. 3).
2. Jeremiah 21:8 tn Heb “these people.”
3. Jeremiah 21:8 tn Heb “Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
4. Jeremiah 21:9 tn Heb “his life will be to him for spoil.”sn Spoil was what was carried off by the victor (see, e.g., Judg 5:30). Those who surrendered to the Babylonians would lose their property, their freedom, and their citizenship but would at least escape with their lives. Jeremiah was branded a traitor for this counsel (cf. 38:4), but it was the way of wisdom since the Lord was firmly determined to destroy the city (cf. v. 10).
5. Jeremiah 21:10 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”
6. Jeremiah 21:10 tn Heb “I have set my face against this city for evil [i.e., disaster] and not for good [i.e., well-being].” For the use of the idiom “set one’s face against/toward” see, e.g., 1 Kgs 2:15; 2 Kgs 2:17; Jer 42:15, 17, and note the interesting interplay of usage in Jer 44:11-12.
7. Jeremiah 21:10 tn Heb “he will burn it with fire.”