Yeremia 38:23

38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. ¹  You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the ²  king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” ³ 

Yeremia 40:9

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. ⁴  “Do not be afraid to submit to the Babylonians. ⁵  Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.

[38:23]  ¹ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[38:23]  ² tn Heb “you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by [caught in] the hand of the king of Babylon.” Neither use of “hand” is natural to the English idiom.

[38:23]  ³ tc This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew mss. The majority of the Hebrew mss read “and you will burn down this city.” This reading is accepted by the majority of modern commentaries and English versions. Few of the commentaries, however, bother to explain the fact that the particle אֶת (’et), which normally marks the accusative object, is functioning here as the subject. For this point of grammar see BDB 85 s.v. I אֵת 1.b. Or this may be another case where אֵת introduces a new subject (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת 3.α and see usage in 27:8; 36:22).

[40:9]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.