The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[11] Jeremiah 21 is a part of the Eighth prophecy (Jeremiah 21-24) in the section of Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1-25). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest:[12]
Biblical commentator F. B. Huey notes that some scholars regard a later passage, Jeremiah 37:3–10, as a "background for Jeremiah 21:1-7".[13]
He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him.[18]
Huey, and others as well, notes that the wording of this verse is similar to Jeremiah 38:2;[19] Huey concludes that the prophecy could have been announced repeatedly.[20]
Verse 13
"Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
The Jerusalem Bible suggests that this announcement is "probably addressed to the inhabitants of the royal palace built on Ophel which looks down on the valley ('plain') of the Kidron.[21]
^"The Evolution of a Theory of the Local Texts" in Cross, F.M.; Talmon, S. (eds) (1975) Qumran and the History of Biblical Text (Cambridge, MA - London). p.308 n. 8
^Tov, Emanuel (1989). "The Jeremiah Scrolls from Qumran". Revue de Qumrân. 14 (2 (54)). Editions Gabalda: 189–206. ISSN0035-1725. JSTOR24608791.