Yeremia 21:9

21:9 Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives. ¹ 

Yeremia 38:2

38:2 “The Lord says, ‘Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. ²  Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians ³  will live. They will escape with their lives.’” ⁴ 

Yeremia 40:9-12

40:9 Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. ⁵  “Do not be afraid to submit to the Babylonians. ⁶  Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you. 40:10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians ⁷  whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, ⁸  and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” ⁹  40:11 Moreover, all the Judeans who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other countries heard what had happened. They heard that the king of Babylon had allowed some people to stay in Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. 40:12 So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 42:10-11

42:10 ‘If you will just stay ¹¹  in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you. ¹²  I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you. 42:11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear. ¹³  Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁴ 

[21:9]  ¹ tn Heb “his life will be to him for spoil.”

[21:9]  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).

[38:2]  ² tn Heb “by sword, by starvation, or by disease.”

[38:2]  ³ tn Heb “those who go out to the Chaldeans.” For the rendering “Babylonians” for “Chaldeans” see the study note on 21:4.

[38:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “his life will be to him for spoil and he will live.” For the meaning of this idiom see the study note on 21:9. The words and “he will live” have been left out of the translation because they are redundant after “will live” and “they will escape with their lives.”

[38:2]  sn See Jer 21:9 for this prophecy.

[40:9]  ⁵ tn The words “so as to give them some assurance of safety” are not in the text but are generally understood by all commentators. This would be a case of substitution of cause for effect, the oath, put for the effect, the assurance of safety (NJPS translates directly “reassured them”).

[40:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[40:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[40:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

[40:10]  ⁹ tn This plus “Things will go well with you” is in essence the substance of the oath. The pronouns are emphatic, “And I, behold I will stay…and you, you may gather.” The imperatives in the second half of the verse are more a form of permission than of command or advice (cf. NJPS, REB, TEV and compare the usage in 40:4 and the references in the translator’s note there).

[40:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

[42:10]  ¹¹ tn The word “just” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizing here the condition rather than the verb root (see Joüon 2:423 §123.g, and compare the usage in Exod 15:26). The form looks like the infinitive absolute of the verb שׁוּב (shuv), but all the versions interpret it as though it is from יָשַׁב (yashav) which is the root of the verb that follows it. Either this is a textual error of the loss of a י (yod) or this is one of the cases that GKC 69 §19.i list as the possible loss of a weak consonant at the beginning of a word.

[42:10]  ¹² tn Or “I will firmly plant you in the land,” or “I will establish you.” This is part of the metaphor that has been used of God (re)establishing Israel in the land. See 24:6; 31:28; 32:41.

[42:11]  ¹³ sn See Jer 41:18 for their reason for fear.

[42:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”