Jeremiah 40:1 - Exposition

The word that came to Jeremiah. The formula seems to announce a prophecy; but no prophecy follows. It is not allowable to suppose, with Keil and others, that "the word" describes the entire body of prophetic utterance in ch. 40-45 (in spite of the fact that Jeremiah 44:1-30 . and 45. have special headings). The use would be unexampled; and a prologue of forty verses (see Jeremiah 42:7 ) is equally contrary to prophetic analogy. Apparently the "word," or prophecy, which originally followed the heading has been lost or removed to some other place. Had let him go from Ramah. Here is an apparent discrepancy with the account in Jeremiah 39:14 . The brevity of the latter seems to account for it. No doubt the more precise statement in our passage is to be followed. After the capture of the city, a number of captives, including Jeremiah, were probably conducted to Ramah (see on Jeremiah 31:15 ), where they had to wait for the royal decision as to their fate. Jeremiah, however, had already been in custody in the "court of the watch," and the writer of Jeremiah 29:14 simply omits the second stage of his captivity (Keil). In chains. See Jeremiah 29:4 , "The chains which were upon thine hand."