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LXX Jeremiah

Septuagint

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Chapter 21

1 THE WORD THAT CAME FROM THE LORD TO JEREMIAS, WHEN KING SEDEKIAS SENT TO HIM PASCHOR THE SON OF MELCHIAS, AND SOPHONIAS SON OF MAASAEAS, THE PRIEST, SAYING, 2 Inquire of the Lord for us; for the king of Babylon has risen up against us; if the Lord will do according to all his wonderful works, and the king shall depart from us. 3 And Jeremiah said to them, Thus you will say to Zedekiah king of Judah, 4 Thus says the Lord; Look, I will turn back the weapons of war with which you fight against the Chaldeans that have besieged you from outside the wall, into the midst of this city. 5 And I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, with fierce anger and anger and great indignation. 6 And I will strike all the dwellers in this city, both men and cattle, with severe pestilence: and they shall die. 7 And after this, thus says the Lord; I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people that is left in this city from the pestilence, and from the famine, and from the sword, into the hands of their enemies, that seek their lives: and they shall cut them in pieces with the edge of the sword: I will not spare them, and I will not have compassion upon them.⁠ 8 And you shall say to this people, Thus says the Lord; Look, I have set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine: but he that goes forth to advance to the Chaldeans that have besieged you, shall live, and his life shall be to him as a prize, and he shall live. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good: it shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall consume it with fire. 11 house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord. 12 house of David, thus says the Lord; Judge judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and rescue the plundered person from the hand of him that wrongs him, for fear that my anger might be kindled like fire, and it burn, and there be none to quench it. 13 Look, I am against you that dwell in the valley of Tyre; in the plain country, even against those who say, Who shall alarm us? or who shall enter into our habitation? 14 And I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things all around it.

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Compare Jeremiah 21:7 and LXX Jeremiah 21:7

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Greek Septuagint version of Jeremiah 21, which is likely the original, says God will not spare Jerusalem’s survivors. The Hebrew Masoretic version attributes this to Nebuchadnezzar, rewriting the language to make God look less violent.

Passages

Jeremiah 21:7

Hebrew Bible
6 I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, people and animals alike. They will die from terrible diseases. 7 Then I, the Lord, promise that I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’ 8 “But tell the people of Jerusalem that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

LXX Jeremiah 21:7

Septuagint
6 And I will strike all the dwellers in this city, both men and cattle, with severe pestilence: and they shall die. 7 And after this, thus says the Lord; I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people that is left in this city from the pestilence, and from the famine, and from the sword, into the hands of their enemies, that seek their lives: and they shall cut them in pieces with the edge of the sword: I will not spare them, and I will not have compassion upon them. 8 And you shall say to this people, Thus says the Lord; Look, I have set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Jeremiah

References

"... Sometimes, the Septuagint may attest to an older reading, which involves divine acts of retribution, whereas in the Masoretic text this motif is mitigated. LXX Jeremiah 21:7 reads “I (God) will not be sparing toward them.” In the Masoretic text, the king of Babylon is responsible. Perhaps the Septuagint reading is, however, a secondary harmonization with Jeremiah 13:14 ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 22.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jeremiah 21:7 and LXX Jeremiah 21:7

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