Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 29:16-20

"thus saith Jehovah concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them; because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent unto them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith Jehovah. Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon." — Jeremiah 29:16-20 (ASV)

These verses are not in the Septuagint. However, the Septuagint text is so consistently brief and confused here that it can only be explained by the assumption that it represents what was left behind in Egypt when Jeremiah died. It was probably copied with extreme haste and with no opportunity for careful comparison afterwards.

On the other hand, the Hebrew text does not represent a hurried transcript but the original manuscript. It is especially trustworthy for these letters sent to Babylon , because their originals would have been available for comparison with the text Jeremiah himself preserved. These verses were probably intended to calm the excitement in Babylon resulting from the knowledge that representatives of various kings were assembled at that very time in Jerusalem to form a coalition against Babylon (Jeremiah 27:3).

(Jeremiah 29:17)

Vile - This word does not occur elsewhere but comes from a root meaning 'to shudder,' and therefore has an intense meaning.