John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 39:9

"Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained." — Jeremiah 39:9 (ASV)

The Prophet now also relates what happened to others, specifically, those who remained in the city and whom Nebuchadnezzar and his army had spared: he says that they were brought to Babylon. There were those who had fled and gone over to the Chaldeans before the city was taken. For we have seen that the despair of many was so great that they revolted, and these were the ones Zedekiah chiefly feared, lest he should become, as we have seen, an object of mockery to them if he had gone to the Chaldeans and made a willing surrender.

Jeremiah now says that these also were led into Chaldea. Nebuchadnezzar might have removed them for this reason: he could not trust traitors. He had found out their inconstancy, for they had revolted from their own real and legitimate king. Since they had thus once violated their faith, he could not help but regard them with suspicion and therefore removed them, lest they should later attempt something new and create a disturbance. Or, it may be that this was done at their request, because they feared that, after the departure of the Chaldeans, the common people would rage against them, since they had helped the enemies and thus had become treacherous and ungrateful towards their own country.

It might then be that they themselves had made this request, and that it was granted to them: they could then live quietly in a distant country, but they could not be safe in Judea. However, whatever the reason may have been, Jeremiah tells us that they were led with the rest into Babylon and Chaldea.

He later names the head or general of the army, namely Nebuzaradan, whom he calls the prince of the killers, or of the cooks. The Greek translators have rendered it ἀρχιμάγειρον, "the prince of the cooks," who in our day is called Grand Master in the courts of princes. But the opinion of those who render the words "the prince of the killers" is more probable. The verb טבח, thebech, means to slay, to kill, and to kill men as well as to slay beasts; and for this reason, some have applied it to cookery. But as Nebuzaradan is mentioned here as the chief among military men, the probability is that he was the judge of all capital offenses in the army. Hence Jeremiah names him when he says that they were removed who remained in the city.

But there seems to be an unnecessary repetition here, as he mentions twice, the rest of the people which remained. There is, however, a difference, for in the first clause he says, in the city. He then means those who had been besieged and whom Nebuchadnezzar had pardoned so as not to put them to death.

The last clause embraces more, even all the inhabitants of the land, for there were many scattered abroad on whom Nebuchadnezzar might have vented his rage, but he removed them as slaves into Chaldea. Thus, our Prophet speaks here of these two groups, for he says that there were some remaining in the city, and that others were remaining, namely, those who were found scattered throughout various parts of the country and had not been besieged by the Chaldean army. He later adds: