7 Afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Nebuchadrezzar - This name is spelt as above in twenty-six places of this book; and in ten places it is spelt Nebuchadnezzar, which is the common orthography. The difference is only a ר resh for a נ nun; but the MSS. are various on this point. It is the same person who is intended by both names; and here all the Versions, except the Arabic, which omits the name, have it in the usual form.
And afterwards, saith the Lord God,.... After there should be so great a mortality among men and beasts:
I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants; the king himself shall not escape; though he shall not die by the pestilence, or famine, or sword, yet he shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, and also "his servants", his courtiers, and counsellors:
and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence,
from the sword, and from the famine; such of the inhabitants of the city, as well as those at court, that died not by the sword, famine, and pestilence: these should be delivered
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; who was now with his army without the walls of the city besieging it:
and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life; the Chaldeans, who were their implacable enemies, and cruel, and whom nothing would satisfy but their lives:
he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; that is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, or, however, the army under his command; for what was done by the one is ascribed to the other: this is to be understood of such that fell into their hands upon taking the city, and who endeavoured to make their escape; see Jeremiah 39:4;
he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy; they had no regard to rank or figure, to age or sex; the sons of the king were slain before his eyes, and then his eyes were put out; princes were hanged up by the hand; and no compassion shown to old or young, man or maiden; see Jeremiah 52:10. This verse is remarkably long.
the people, and such--rather, explanatory, "the people," namely, "such as are left."
seek their life--content with nothing short of their death; not content with plundering and enslaving them.
smite with . . . sword--This was the fate of Zedekiah's sons and many of the Jewish nobles. Zedekiah himself, though not put to a violent death, died of grief. Compare as to the accurate fulfilment, Jeremiah 34:4; Ezekiel 12:13; 2-Kings 25:6-7.
The Lord will make known His almighty power not for the rescue but for the chastisement of Judah. The words "with outstretched hand and strong arm" are a standing figure for the miraculous manifestation of God's power at the release of Israel from Egypt, Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 26:8. This power He will now exercise upon Israel, and execute the punishment threatened against apostasy at the renewal of the covenant by Moses in the land of Moab. The words גּדול...בּאף are from Deuteronomy 29:27. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are to perish during the siege by pestilence and disease, and the remainder, including the king and his servants, to be mercilessly massacred. "Great pestilence" alone is mentioned in Jeremiah 21:6, but in Jeremiah 21:7 there are sword and famine along with it. The ואת before הנּשׁארים seems superfluous and unsuitable, since besides the king, his servants and the people, there could be none others left. The lxx have therefore omitted it, and Hitz., Ew., Graf, and others propose to erase it. But the ו may be taken to be explicative: namely, such as are left, in which case ואת serves to extend the participial clause to all the persons before mentioned, while without the ואת the 'הנּשׁארים וגו could be referred only to העם. "Into the hand of their enemies" is rhetorically amplified by "into the hand of those that seek," etc., as in Jeremiah 19:7, Jeremiah 19:9; Jeremiah 34:20, etc.; לפי חרב, according to the sharpness (or edge) of the sword, i.e., mercilessly (see on Genesis 34:26; in Jeremiah. only here), explained by "not spare them," etc., cf. Jeremiah 13:14.
*More commentary available at chapter level.