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Jeremiah 38:27

in Jeremiah 38

When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.

KJV

Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.

This verse in Jeremiah 38

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The matter was not perceived - They did not question him farther; and the king’s commandment to remove him from the house of Jonathan being well known, they took for granted that they had all the information that they sought. And he was most certainly not obliged to relate any thing that might embroil this weak king with his factious but powerful princes, or affect his own life. He related simply what was necessary, and no more.

This site's exposition

I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen

on Jeremiah 38:19-28

Zedekiah's real fear surfaces at last, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me, terror of his own defectors outweighing terror of Babylon or of God, and Jeremiah's answer, they shall not deliver thee, cannot move him past it. The vision of the king's own women taunting him, thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back, echoes Jeremiah's own dungeon in mire back at the king who put him there, a detail the bench reads as deliberate. Zedekiah extracts a promise of silence about the conversation, and Jeremiah keeps it exactly when the princes come asking, so that he remains in the court of the prison until the day Jerusalem falls, obedient to the letter of a secrecy the king demanded but not to the counsel the king refused.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and no doubt it was true: he would not let slip so fair an opportunity of engaging the king's favour; so that this was no lie or equivocation, but a part of the truth, which it was lawful for him to put them off with when he was under no obligation at all to tell them the whole truth.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you. 6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him,....

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּבֹ֨אוּand they came

    vaiyavouH9352568 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H36055413 times

  • הַשָּׂרִ֤יםthe officials

    hasarimH8269421 times

  • אֶֽל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • יִרְמְיָ֙הוּ֙Jeremiah

    yirmeyahuH3414147 times

  • וַיִּשְׁאֲל֣וּand they asked

    vaiyishaluH7592171 times

  • אֹת֔וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • וַיַּגֵּ֤דand he told

    vaiyagedH5046370 times

  • לָהֶם֙to <the> them

    lahem

  • כְּכָל־according to all

    kekhol-H36055413 times

  • הַדְּבָרִ֣יםthe words

    hadevarimH16971440 times

  • הָאֵ֔לֶּה<the> these

    haelehH428746 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • צִוָּ֖הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680494 times

  • הַמֶּ֑לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • וַיַּחֲרִ֣שׁוּand they kept silent

    vaiyacharishuH279074 times

  • מִמֶּ֔נּוּfrom him

    mimenuH44801188 times

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H38085168 times

  • נִשְׁמַ֖עit had been heard

    nishma'H80851159 times

  • הַדָּבָֽר׃ פthe matter

    hadavarH16971440 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Acts 23:6

    Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in…

    it leads to

    • Acts 24:15

      and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

    • Acts 24:21

      unless it was this one thing I called out as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

    • Acts 26:5–8

      They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.

    • Philippians 3:5

      circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

    • Acts 28:20

      So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

  • Through

    2 Kings 6:19

    And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 16:24

      Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

    • 2 Samuel 16:18–19

      “Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, by the people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and with him I will remain.

    • Mark 8:34

      Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

About Jeremiah

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.