Conversation between the king and the prophet. - Jeremiah 38:14. King Zedekiah was desirous of once more hearing a message of God from the prophet, and for this object had him brought into the third entrance in the house of the Lord. Nothing further is known about the situation and the nature of this entrance; possibly it led from the palace to the temple, and seems to have been an enclosed space, for the king could carry on a private conversation there with the prophet. The king said to him, "I ask you about a matter, do not conceal anything from me." He meant a message from God regarding the final issue of the siege, cf. Jeremiah 37:7. Jeremiah, knowing the aversion of the king to the truth, replies, Jeremiah 38:15 : "If I tell thee [sc. the word of the Lord], wilt thou not assuredly kill me? And if I were to give thee advice, thou wouldst not listen to me." Jeremiah 38:16. Then the king sware to him secretly, "As Jahveh liveth, who hath made us this soul, I shall certainly not kill thee, nor deliver thee into the hand of these men who seek thy life." את אשׁר, as in Jeremiah 27:8, properly means, "with regard to Him who has created us." The Qeri expunges את. "These men" are the princes mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1.

Jeremiah 38:22 Parallel Commentaries

all.

Jeremiah 43:6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters...

Lamentations 5:11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

and those. Mr. Harmer would render, and here ({hennah,} or reading {hinneh,} behold,) the women (wont to sing on public occasions) shall say, etc.; observing that these bitter speeches much better suit the lips of women belonging to the conquering nation, singing before a captive prince, than of his own wives and concubines. This he illustrates by the following extract from Della Valle: When he was at Lar, in Persia, the king of Ormuz was brought thither in triumph; and this poor unfortunate king entered Lar, with his people, in the morning, music playing, and girls and women singing and dancing before him, according to the custom of Persia, and the people flocking together with a prodigious concourse, and conducting him in a pompous and magnificent manner, particularly with colours displayed, like what the Messenians formerly did to Philopoemen, the general of the Athenians, their prisoner of war, according to the report of Justin.

Thy friends. Heb. The men of thy peace.

Jeremiah 38:4-6 Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man be put to death...

Jeremiah 20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting...

Psalm 41:9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

have set.

Jeremiah 38:19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand...

Lamentations 1:2 She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she has none to comfort her...

Micah 7:5 Trust you not in a friend, put you not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom.

thy feet.

Jeremiah 38:6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison...

Psalm 69:2,14 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me...

they are.

Jeremiah 46:5,21 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back...

Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.

Lamentations 1:13 From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back...