Jeremiah 44:27-29
New English Translation
27 I will indeed[a] see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them.[b] All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left. 28 Some who survive the battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed![c] Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true,[d] mine or theirs.’ 29 Moreover the Lord says,[e] ‘I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true.[f]
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- Jeremiah 44:27 tn Heb “Behold, I.” For the use of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6. Here it announces the reality of a fact.
- Jeremiah 44:27 tn Heb “Behold, I am watching over them for evil/disaster/harm, not for good/prosperity/blessing.” See a parallel usage in 31:28.
- Jeremiah 44:28 tn Heb “The survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number [more literally, “men of number”; for the idiom see BDB 709 s.v. מִסְפָּר 1.a].” The term “survivors of the sword” may be intended to represent those who survive death by war, starvation, and disease, as a synecdoche of species for all three genera.sn This statement shows that the preceding “none,” “never again,” and “all” in vv. 26-27 are rhetorical hyperbole: not all but almost all. Very few would survive. The following statement implies that the reason they are left alive is to bear witness to the fact that the Lord’s threats were indeed carried out. See vv. 11-14 for a parallel use of “all” and “none” qualified by a “few.”
- Jeremiah 44:28 tn Heb “will stand,” i.e., in the sense of being fulfilled, proving to be true, or succeeding (see BDB 878 s.v. קוּם 7.g).
- Jeremiah 44:29 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 44:29 tn Heb “This will be to you the sign, oracle of the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my threats against you for evil/disaster/harm will certainly stand [see the translator’s note on the preceding verse for the meaning of this word here].” The word “sign” refers to an event that is an omen or portent of something that will happen later (see BDB 16 s.v. אוֹת 2 and compare usage in 1 Sam 14:10 and 2 Kgs 19:29). The best way to carry that idea across in this context seems to be, “I will make something happen to prove [or portend].” Another possibility would be, “I will give you an omen that,” but many readers would probably not be familiar with “omen.” Again, the sentence has been broken in two and restructured to better conform with English style.
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