Jeremiah 29:16

16 this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile—

Jeremiah 29:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:16

[Know] that thus saith the Lord
Or "for", or "wherefore thus saith the Lord" ^F24; for the word "know" is not in the text, and seems needless; though it is also supplied by other interpreters ^F25. The words are illative, and follow upon the former; and the sense is, that since they gave heed to their false prophets in Babylon, who told them that they should quickly return; therefore the Lord sent the following message to them, informing them that it was so far from being true that they should in a short time return to Jerusalem, that, on the other hand, they that were there should soon be with them in captivity, or be destroyed: of,
or "concerning" the king that sitteth on the throne of David;
that is, King Zedekiah, who was then the reigning king at Jerusalem: and of all the people that dwelleth in this city;
the city Jerusalem, where Jeremiah was, and from whence this letter was written, in the name of the Lord, to the captives at Babylon: and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
that lived in the several parts of the land of Judea, who were left behind, and not carried captive, when those were to whom these words are directed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (rma hk yk) "nam sic ait", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "ideo", Calvin; "ita namque", Schmidt.
F25 "Scitote quod", Vatablus.

Jeremiah 29:16 In-Context

14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

15 Because you may say, “The LORD has raised up for us prophets in Babylon,”

16 this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile—

17 this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will send against them sword and famine and plague, and I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten.

18 I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.