Bible Strands
Jeremiah 39:10
But Nebuzaradan left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who had no property, and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, acts after deporting the remaining Jerusalem population to Babylon, leaving a remnant in Judah under Nebuchadnezzar’s broader decree. This occurs immediately after the city’s fall and before Nebuchadnezzar’s specific instructions regarding Jeremiah are executed.
The words — The Hebrew phrase הַדּוֹלִים (ha-dolim) literally means "the poor" or "the needy," and אֵין מְאוּמָה ('ein me'umah) translates to "nothing" or "no property." Nebuzaradan’s action of הִשְׁאִיר (hish'ir), "he left behind," specifically targets those without land or wealth.
The thread — This policy of leaving the landless poor to work the vineyards and fields appears identically in 2 Kings 25:12 and Jeremiah 52:16, while Jeremiah 40:7 notes the subsequent arrival of military commanders in the same region. The repeated phrasing across Kings and Jeremiah confirms a single historical record of Babylonian resettlement policy.
Why it lands — The text records a pragmatic administrative decision that preserves a working class in Judah after mass deportation. It requires the reader to acknowledge that imperial policy, not divine intervention, dictates the immediate survival of the landless remnant.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But Nebuzar–adan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 25:12 But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
- Jeremiah 40:7 When all the commanders and men of the armies in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been exiled to Babylon,
- Jeremiah 52:16 But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
- Ezekiel 33:24 “Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’