Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 103(7:20; 32:31, 37; 33:5; 36:7; 42: 18). The LXX omits "yes, in anger," which is not
a MT expansion but another omission attributable to haplography (homoeo-
arcton: wb ... wb). Janzen (1973: 43, #44) in his evaluation of this reading is
undecided.- And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city-both human and beast;
by a great pestilence they shall die. The verb nkh can mean "strike down to kill"
(26:23), but here probably means "strike down savagely"; death will come by
pestilence (cf. 18:21 ). Yahweh's savage beating or striking down of his people is
a recurring theme in the Jeremianic poetry (2:30; 5:3; 14:19; 30:14).
both human and beast. Hebrew wifet-ha'adam we'et-habbehema. Translating
the waws "both ... and" (so T; cf. KB^3 ). The LXX and Vg omit the first waw,
for which reason some delete (Giesebrecht; S. R. Driver; Ehrlich 1912: 296;
Volz). The nouns here are to be taken as collectives: judgment will fall upon
both humans and animals (7:20), another indication that Yahweh is carrying
on holy war (cf. Deut 20:16-17; l Sam 15:3). In 27:6, Yahweh says he has given
Nebuchadnezzar also the beasts of the field. The expression, "(hu)man and
beast" occurs often in the Jeremiah prose (7:20; 21:6; 27:5; 31:27; 32:43; 33:10
[2x], 12; 36:29; 51:62) and once in the poetry (50:3).
7. And after this ... I will give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants, and
the people ... into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon .... And he
will strike them down into the mouth of the sword ... and he will not have mercy.
This will be after the siege has done its work, and Jerusalem's inhabitants are
sick, wounded, or dead, as the enemy pours into the city. Yahweh says that he
will give Zedekiah and survivors into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar and his
army, who will then cut them down without mercy. In actual fact, while Zede-
kiah was made to endure the horrible conditions of the siege, he did not him-
self meet a violent death (cf. 34:5). His sons were killed by the sword, after
which he was blinded, enchained, and carted off to Babylon (39: 1-7; 52:4-11).
It may then be said that he, like most of the others, was shown no mercy.
his servants. Hebrew 'abadayw. These are important people in the employ of
the king, i.e., royal officials (cf. 22:2, 4; 25:19; 36:24, 31; 37:2, 18; 46:26). For
"servants" of Yahweh, who figure in his rule over Israel and the rest of the
world, see Note for 25:9.
and the people, and those remaining in this city from the pestilence, from the
sword, and from the famine. A few Heb MSS, LXX, S, and T omit we' et before
hanniS'arfm ("those remaining"), which gives a reduced reading: "and the
people remaining in this city." Compressions of this sort are common in the
LXX, but not in T. Many commentators (Giesebrecht, Duhm, Volz, Rudolph,
Bright, Thompson, Holladay, McKane), in any case, delete the nota accusativi.
Calvin says the copulative is to be taken as even: "even those remaining .... "A
rhetorical structure in the verse argues in favor of a four-term accumulatio, not
a three-term (see Rhetoric and Composition).
from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine. On this triad, usually
in the form "sword ... famine ... pestilence" (v 9), see Note for 5: 12. In the
apocryphal book of Baruch it appears as "by famine, and sword, and pestilence"