Jeremiah 37:9

9 I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will not come back, because they will.

Jeremiah 37:9 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 37:9

Thus saith the Lord, deceive not yourselves
Or, "your souls"; with a false opinion, a vain persuasion and belief of the departure of the Chaldeans never to return; which they would have confirmed by the Lord; or, "lift not up your souls" ^F2; with vain hopes of the above things: self or soul deception is a dreadful thing; and sad is the disappointment when men are elated with a false and vain hope: saying, the Chaldeans shall surely depart from us;
they had departed from Jerusalem; but they were persuaded they would depart out of the land of Judea, and go into their own land, the land of Babylon, from whence they came, and never return more: for they shall not depart;
out of the land of Judea, into their own land; at least not till they had done the work they were sent about.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mkytvpn wavt la) "ne efferatis animas vestras", Tigurine version, Calvin; "ne tollatis (in spem) animas vestras", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 37:9 In-Context

7 to say to Zedekiah, "The Egyptian army is on its way to help you, but it will return home.

8 Then the Babylonians will come back, attack the city, capture it, and burn it down.

9 I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will not come back, because they will.

10 Even if you defeat the whole Babylonian army, so that only wounded men are left, lying in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city to the ground."

11 The Babylonian army retreated from Jerusalem because the Egyptian army was approaching.