Discovery BoxJeremiah 27:14-17 
Context27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve 1 the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you. 27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm 2 that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you 3 listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” 4
27:16 I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that 5 the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. 6 But they are prophesying a lie to you. 27:17 Do not listen to them. Be subject to the king of Babylon. Then you 7 will continue to live. Why should this city be made a pile of rubble?’” 8
1 tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.
2 tn Heb “oracle of the
3 sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.
4 tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”
sn For the fulfillment of this prophecy see Jer 39:5-7; 52:7-11; 2 Kgs 25:4-7.
5 tn Heb “don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you….” The sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style and one level of embedded quotes has been eliminated to ease complexity.
6 sn This refers to the valuable articles of the temple treasury which were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar four years earlier when he carried off Jeconiah, his family, some of his nobles, and some of the cream of Judean society (2 Kgs 24:10-16, especially v. 13 and see also vv. 19-20 in the verses following).
7 tn The imperative with vav (ו) here and in v. 12 after another imperative are a good example of the use of the imperative to introduce a consequence. (See GKC 324-25 §110.f and see Gen 42:18. This is a common verb in this idiom.)
8 tn According to E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 954) both this question and the one in v. 13 are examples of rhetorical questions of prohibition / “don’t let this city be made a pile of rubble.”
