Jewish Publication Society Bible: Jeremiah 21

Book of ChroniclesHebrew Bible TranslationJewish Publication Society Bible

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This is a prophetic oracle from the Hebrew Bible, specifically Chapter 21 of the Book of Jeremiah, belonging to the tradition of Israelite prophecy. The passage opens with King Zedekiah sending emissaries to ask Jeremiah whether God will intervene miraculously against the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, as he had done for Israel in the past. Jeremiah's response inverts this hope entirely: God declares he will actively fight *against* Jerusalem, not for it, turning its own weapons back and delivering the city, its king, and its people into Babylonian hands through plague, sword, and famine. The text's most striking and provocative claim is that survival requires surrender to the enemy — those who defect to Babylon will live, while those who remain loyal to the besieged city will die — framing capitulation as obedience to God. A closing appeal to the royal house urges justice as the only remaining path to avert catastrophe, though the overall tone is one of foreclosed possibility rather than genuine conditional warning. The passage is distinctive for its thoroughgoing theological reversal: the national enemy becomes God's instrument, and patriotic resistance becomes defiance of the divine will.

Jewish Publication Society Bible: Jeremiah 21

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