32 Or “Did Jeremiah dictate them to you?” The words “Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” assume that the last phrase (מִפִּיו, mippiv) is a question, either without the formal he (הֲ) interrogative (see §150.a and compare usage in 1 Sam 16:4; Prov 5:16) or with a letter supplied from the end of the preceding word (single writing of a letter following the same letter [haplography]; so the majority of modern commentaries). The word is missing in the Greek version. The presence of this same word at the beginning of the answer in the next verse suggests that this was a question (probably without the he [הֲ] interrogative to make it more emphatic) since the common way to answer affirmatively is to repeat the emphatic word in the question (cf. §150.n and compare usage in Gen 24:58). The intent of the question is to make sure that these were actually Jeremiah’s words not Baruch’s own creation (cf. Jer 42:2–3 for a similar suspicion).

In other versions

Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?”

Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”

“But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did they come directly from Jeremiah?”

Then they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us please, how did you write all these words, from his mouth?”

And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?

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