ירמיהו, פרק מ״ב, פסוק ז׳

After the people approach Jeremiah with a plea for prayer, the prophet does not receive an immediate response [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Instead, the divine answer arrives only after a waiting period of ten days [מצודת ציון].

There are two main ways to understand the timing of this delay. One approach views the timeframe literally, counting ten full days from the exact moment the people asked the prophet to pray to God [מצודת דוד].

Another perspective connects this period to the calendar, identifying it as a time of deep spiritual meaning: the Ten Days of Repentance [חומת אנך, אברבנאל]. The background to this request is the assassination of Gedaliah, which took place at the beginning of the month of Tishrei. Following the murder, the people were filled with deep anxiety. They feared revenge from the Chaldeans, who might assume that the entire nation and its leaders were partners in the rebellion. Driven by this terror, they turned to Jeremiah during the Ten Days of Repentance, asking him to plead on their behalf.

Following this idea, the timeframe highlights that God provided His answer precisely as the Ten Days of Repentance came to a close. The response arrived on the Day of Atonement itself, the moment when God accepted their prayer. The specific mention of this period does not mean God delayed His response for ten full days after the people made their request. Rather, the prophecy was delivered on the spiritually significant day that concluded the repentance period, even if the people had actually brought their plea to Jeremiah just a day or two earlier [אברבנאל].