Jeremiah 38:23

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance that is in the house of the LORD. "I am going to ask you something," said the king to Jeremiah. "Do not hide anything from me." ¹⁵"If I tell you," Jeremiah replied, "will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you advice, you would not listen to me." ¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly, "As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who are seeking your life." ¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive. ¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.'" ¹⁹But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may hand me over to them to abuse me." ²⁰"They will not hand you over," Jeremiah replied. "Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, so it may go well with you and you may live. ²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has shown me: ²²All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: 'They misled you and overcame you-those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.'" ²³All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they shall: Jeremiah 38:18, Jeremiah 39:6, Jeremiah 41:10, Jeremiah 52:8-13, 2 Kings 25:7, 2 Chronicles 36:20, 2 Chronicles 36:21

shalt cause: etc. Heb. shalt burn, etc. Jeremiah 27:12, Jeremiah 27:13, Ezekiel 14:9, Ezekiel 43:3

Reciprocal: Numbers 4:18 - General Numbers 32:15 - ye shall 2 Kings 25:6 - they took Jeremiah 21:10 - it shall Jeremiah 25:35 - the shepherds Jeremiah 27:17 - wherefore Jeremiah 32:4 - General Jeremiah 34:2 - Behold Jeremiah 34:22 - shall fight Jeremiah 37:8 - General Jeremiah 39:5 - Chaldeans' Jeremiah 52:13 - the king's Ezekiel 17:15 - shall he escape Ezekiel 19:14 - fire

Cross-References

2 Samuel 12:9
Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Proverbs 6:33
Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.

Romans 6:21
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

2 Corinthians 4:2
Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Ephesians 5:12
For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

Revelation 16:15
"Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who remains awake and clothed, so that he will not go naked and let his shame be exposed."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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" b; 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.

b תשדף באש "combures igne", Vatablus, Schmidt; "cremabis in igne", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So - And. In addition to the ridicule there shall be the miseries of the capture.

Thou shalt cause this city to be burned - literally, as margin. It shall be thy own act as completely as if done with thine own hand.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:23. They shall bring out all thy wives and thy children — These were the women of the first rank, by whom the king had children. These had no temptation to go out to the Chaldeans, nor would they have been made welcome; but the others being young, and without children, would be well received by the Chaldean princes.