Discovery BoxJeremiah 34:17 
Context34:17 So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. 1 Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom 2 to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! 3 I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. 4
Jeremiah 42:2
Context42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request 5 and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. 6 For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. 7
1 tn The Hebrew text has a compound object, the two terms of which have been synonyms in vv. 14, 15. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 189) make the interesting observation that these two terms (Heb “brother” and “neighbor”) emphasize the relationships that should have taken precedence over their being viewed as mere slaves.
2 sn This is, of course, a metaphorical and ironical use of the term “to grant freedom to.” It is, however, a typical statement of the concept of talionic justice which is quite often operative in God’s judgments in the OT (cf., e.g., Obad 15).
3 tn Heb “Oracle of the
4 sn Compare Jer 15:4; 24:9; 29:18.
5 tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.
6 tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”
sn This refers to the small remnant of people who were left of those from Mizpah who had been taken captive by Ishmael after he had killed Gedaliah and who had been rescued from him at Gibeon. There were other Judeans still left in the land of Judah who had not been killed or deported by the Babylonians.
7 tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.
