Jeremiah 32:4-5

32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. ¹  He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face. ²  32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. ³  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴  Even if you ⁵  continue to fight against the Babylonians, ⁶  you cannot win.’”

[32:4]  ¹ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

[32:4]  ² tn Heb “his [Zedekiah’s] mouth will speak with his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] mouth and his eyes will see his eyes.” The verbs here are an obligatory imperfect and its vav consecutive perfect equivalent. (See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples of the former and IBHS 528 §32.2.1d, n. 16, for the latter.)

[32:5]  ³ tn This is the verb (פָּקַד, paqad) that has been met with several times in the book of Jeremiah, most often in the ominous sense of “punish” (e.g., 6:15; 11:22; 23:24) but also in the good sense of “resume concern for” (e.g., 27:22; 29:10). Here it is obviously in the ominous sense referring to his imprisonment and ultimate death (52:11).

[32:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:5]  ⁵ sn The pronouns are plural here, referring to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah had counseled that they surrender (cf. 27:12; 21:8-10) because they couldn’t succeed against the Babylonian army even under the most favorable circumstances (37:3-10).

[32:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.