Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ¹ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ²  are judged fairly. ³ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ⁴  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ⁵ 

[21:12]  ¹ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

[21:12]  ² tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

[21:12]  ³ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

[21:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[21:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”