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Jeremiah 21

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Zedekiah Seeks an Oracle 1–2

1
The 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, ​
2
Enquire, 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. ​

God Will Fight Against Jerusalem 3–7

3
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4
Thus 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. ​
5
And 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. ​
6
And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
7
And 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. ​

The Way of Life and the Way of Death 8–10

8
And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. ​
9
He 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. ​
10
For 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.

A Warning to the House of David 11–14

11
And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
12
O 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. ​
13
Behold, 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? ​
14
But 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.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 21

Verse 1

Pashur the son of Melchiah — A different man from the Pashur son of Immer who struck Jeremiah (20:1–2). Zedekiah sends him with Zephaniah, ‘the son of Maaseiah the priest’, who is sent again in 37:3 with the plea ‘Pray now unto the LORD our God for us’, and who is later called ‘the second priest’ (52:24).

Verse 2

his wondrous works — Pala’, to be marvellous. The hope is for a deliverance like Hezekiah’s, when the angel of the LORD smote the Assyrian camp and ‘Sennacherib king of Assyria departed’ (2 Kgs 19:35–36). The king asks that Nebuchadrezzar ‘go up from us’; the answer in vv.3–7 gives him the opposite.

Verse 4

turn back the weapons of war — Sabab, to turn around: the arms in Judah’s hands will be turned about. The Chaldeans now ‘without the walls’ will be gathered ‘into the midst of this city’, as Jer 33:5 says: ‘to fill them with the dead bodies of men’. The Babylonian princes later ‘sat in the middle gate’ (39:3).

Verse 5

an outstretched hand and… a strong arm — The words belong to the Exodus: the LORD redeemed Israel ‘with a stretched out arm’ (Exod 6:6) and promised ‘The LORD shall fight for you’ (Exod 14:14). Now he fights against Jerusalem, with three words for anger: aph, chemah and qetseph, ‘anger… fury… great wrath’.

Verse 7

I will deliver Zedekiah — Fulfilled when the Chaldean army ‘overtook him in the plains of Jericho’, and ‘they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah’ (2 Kgs 25:5–7). The three plagues, pestilence, sword and famine, return in vv.9 and in 38:2. ‘He shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy’ closes the verse.

Verse 8

the way of life, and the way of death — The choice of Deut 30:19, ‘I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing’, given a plain form in v.9: staying in the city is death, and going out to the Chaldeans is life. The word of the LORD to the people sets their own obedience against the king’s hope of rescue.

Verse 9

his life shall be unto him for a prey — Shalal, plunder: the one who leaves the city keeps only his life, as a soldier keeps his spoil. The same words are spoken in 38:2, and the same promise is given to Ebed-melech (39:18) and to Baruch (45:5), who is told not to seek ‘great things’.

Verse 12

Execute judgment in the morning — Addressed to the throne, since ‘David executed judgment and justice unto all his people’ (2 Sam 8:15). Jer 22:3 states the duty: ‘deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor’. The fire that none can quench was the warning of 4:4, ‘lest my fury come forth like fire’, ‘because of the evil of your doings’.

Verse 13

Who shall come down against us? — The boast of those who trust their height. Of Edom the LORD says, ‘that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?’ (Obad 1:3), and Lam 4:12 records the unbelief that the enemy ‘should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem’. ‘Valley’ is emeq, ‘rock’ is tsur; the LORD himself is ‘against thee’.