Jeremiah 29:1

1. The words of the letter The Substance or import of the letter. The exact form of words does not seem to be given.

Residue of the elders Those still surviving of the original company carried away. The time had not, indeed, been long, but it had doubtless been, for these people thus violently torn away from their homes and all ordinary conditions of safety and comfort, a time of unusual mortality. And they had not yet become so well organized in the land of their exile as that the places of these elders were promptly filled at their death.