The Lord says to Jeremiah, concerning the envoys, Give them this charge for their masters.
The literal meaning is Command them to their master.
Jeremiah must command them to return to their kings with a message from the Lord.1
The message they are to deliver is that the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel
has made the earth, with the men and the animals that are on the earth, and I will give it to whomever it seems right to me.
The Lord makes his sovereign power clear. He is the all-powerful Lord of hosts
who made and rules over everything. He is also the covenant God of Israel. He gives what he has made to whomever it seems right to him. The immediate importance of this reality is made clear to the envoys. They are also to say to their kings, Now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.
The reason these nations, whose envoys are gathered in Jerusalem, find themselves subject to Babylon is because the Lord has put them there. Babylon has not simply taken these nations through its own might. These nations all belong to the Lord, and he has given them to Babylon. In this situation, Babylon is the Lord’s servant, carrying out the Lord’s plans and purposes, even if it does not worship or acknowledge him. The Lord has even given Nebuchadnezzar the beasts of the fields.
This seems to pick up the yoke imagery of Jeremiah 27:1–2. Even the wild animals are subject to Babylon, how much more the domesticated animals that are yoked, which in this imagery would be the kings of the nations. It is the Lord who holds the fate of the nations in his hands and no amount of plotting or scheming will change that.2
4 et tu leur donneras mes ordres pour leurs maîtres, en disant: Ainsi parle l'Eternel des armées, le Dieu d'Israël: Voici ce que vous direz à vos maîtres: