Yirmeyah 38:23

23 So they shall surrender all thy nashim and thy banim to the Kasdim (Chaldeans); and thou shalt not escape out of their yad, but shalt be captured by the yad Melech Bavel; and thou shalt cause this city to be burned down with eish.

Yirmeyah 38:23 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 38:23

So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the
Chaldeans
Not the citizens of Jerusalem; but, as Kimchi observes, the Chaldeans that should enter the city shall bring them out to the Chaldeans without: or it may be rendered impersonally, "they shall be brought out": not only the ladies at court, that waited on him and his queen, as before; but all his wives and concubines, and his children, or his sons rather; for at the taking of the city no mention is made of daughters, only of sons, who were slain before his eyes, ( Jeremiah 39:6 ) ; and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the
hand of the king of Babylon;
not by him personally, for he was not present at the taking of him, but by his army, who having taken him, brought him to him, and delivered him into his hand, ( Jeremiah 39:5 ) ; and thou shalt cause this city to be burnt with fire;
or, "thou shall burn this city with fire" ^F2; be the moral cause of it; through his sin and obstinacy, impenitence and unbelief, the burning of the city might be laid to his charge; his sin was the cause of it; and it was all one as if he had burnt it with his own hands. All this is said to work upon him to hearken to the advice given; but all was in vain.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (vab Pdvt) "combures igne", Vatablus, Schmidt; "cremabis in igne", Montanus.

Yirmeyah 38:23 In-Context

21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the davar that Hashem hath showed me:

22 And, hinei, all the nashim that are left in the Bais Melech Yehudah shall be brought forth to the sarim of Melech Bavel, and those nashim shall say, Thy close friends misled thee, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mud, and they desert thee.

23 So they shall surrender all thy nashim and thy banim to the Kasdim (Chaldeans); and thou shalt not escape out of their yad, but shalt be captured by the yad Melech Bavel; and thou shalt cause this city to be burned down with eish.

24 Then said Tzidkiyah unto Yirmeyah, Let no ish know of these devarim, and thou shalt not die.

25 But if the sarim hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto HaMelech, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what HaMelech said unto thee;