Verse 1. - Two Pashurs appear to be mentioned here: one probably the same who put Jeremiah in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:1, 2); the other a member of the first of Zedekiah's two embassies to the prophet (Jeremiah 21:1). On Jucal, see Jeremiah 37:3. Had spoken; rather, kept speaking.

Verses 2, 3. - He that remaineth, etc. Jeremiah repeats what he had said to Zedekiah's embassy in Jeremiah 21:9, 10.

Verse 4. - For thus; literally, for therefore; i.e. because he is left in impunity (camp. the use of the phrase in Jeremiah 29:28). He weakeneth the hands of the men of war; i.e. he dispirits them. It is important to get this "outside view" of the preaching of Jeremiah. There is evidently some excuse for the opponents of Jeremiah. It was a matter of life and death to resist the Chaldeans, and Jeremiah was, according to the politicians, playing into the hands of the enemy (see further in general Introduction). The addition of the words, that remain, shows that the bitter end of the resistance was fast approaching.

Verse 5. - He is in your hand. The growing power of the "princes" (see on Jeremiah 22:4) seems to have confined the king to a merely secondary role.

Verse 6. - The dungeon; more literally, the cistern. "Every house in Jerusalem was supplied with a subterranean cistern, so well constructed that we never read of the city suffering in a siege from want of water" (Dr. Payne Smith). A grotto bearing the name of Jeremiah has been shown at Jerusalem since the fifteenth century. Under its floor are vast cisterns, the deepest of which professes to be the prison into which the prophet was thrown. The objection is that the sacred narrative proves that the prison was in the city, whereas "the present grotto was not included within the walls until the time of Herod Agrippa" (Thomson, 'The Land and the Book,' 1881, p. 555). The son of Hammelech; rather, a royal prince (as Jeremiah 36:26).

Verse 7. - Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. The name means "the king's slave." Ebers remarks that the eunuchs employed are those on whom the shameful operation has been performed by Copts in Upper Egypt. Zedekiah's harem is referred to in vers. 22, 23.

Verse 9. - For there is no more bread in the city. It would almost seem as if the little remaining bread had been brought together by command of the magistrates, and that it was given out in rations by them (comp. Jeremiah 37:21).

Verse 10. - Thirty men. Why so many were sent is not clear. Are we to suppose that the princes would resist Jeremiah's release? But "the king is not he," etc. (ver. 5). Is it not a scribe's error for "three" (so Ewald, Hitzig, and Graf)?

Verse 11. - Under the treasury; rather, to (a room) under the treasury. Old cast clouts, etc.; literally, rags of torn garments and rags of worn-out garments.

Verse 14. - The third entry. What this means exactly is not clear; probably the "entry" led from the palace to the temple. It must have been a private place, else it would not have been chosen for this interview. I will ask thee a thing; rather, I will ask of thee a word; i.e. a revelation from Jehovah (comp. Jeremiah 37:17).

Verse 15. - Wilt thou not hearken; rather, thou wilt not hearken.

Verse 16. - That made us this soul. A very unusual formula (comp. Isaiah 57:16).

Verse 17. - The king of Babylon's princes. Nebuchadnezzar himself was in Riblah (Jeremiah 39:5).

Verse 22. - All the women that are left; i.e. probably the wives of Zedekiah's royal predecessors, who had passed into his own harem as concubines. Even Hezekiah, as Payne Smith well points out, had a numerous harem ('Records of the Past,' 1:39, where "daughters" is equivalent to "girls"). Zedekiah's own wives are spoken of in the next verse. Thy friends have set thee on, etc. The first half of this taunting song (mashal) reminds of Obadiah 1:7 (for other points of contact with Obadiah, see on Jeremiah 49:7-22). The meaning is that, after urging the weak-minded Zedekiah on to a conflict with the Chaldeans, they have left him involved in hopeless difficulties.

Verse 23. - So they, etc.; rather, and they, etc. The women spoken of are different from those in ver. 22. Thou shalt cause this city to be burned. The literal rendering (see margin) is, Thou shalt burn this city; but the Septuagint, Peshito, and Targum have "As for this city it shall be burned," which suits the parallelism better.

Verse 27. - He told them according to all these words. A controversy has arisen as to whether Jeremiah was justified in concealing the truth. But is a man bound to confess the truth to a murderer?

Verse 28. - And he was there when, etc. The words, of which this is an incorrect version, ought to begin the first verse of the next chapter. Render (with Coverdale), And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken (in the ninth year of Zedekiah came Nebuchadrezzar, etc.; in the eleventh year...the city was cleft open) that all the princes, etc. The correctness of the reading is, however, open to some doubt (see introduction to next chapter)