וַיֶּ֛גֶל הַשְּׁאֵרִ֥ית מִן־הַחֶ֖רֶב אֶל־בָּבֶ֑ל וַֽיִּהְיוּ־ל֤וֹ וּלְבָנָיו֙ לַעֲבָדִ֔ים עַד־מְלֹ֖ךְ מַלְכ֥וּת פָּרָֽס׃
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia;
Rashi
וַיֵּיטָב means HE DID GOOD TO THEM. — The following is the difference between certain forms in a word (verb) whose root is two letters when one prefixes ו and י to them: when it intends to express the meaning “and he caused someone or something to do a particular action” (i. e. the 3rd masc. sing, imperf. Hiphil with Vau conversive), the י has the vowel Tzéré which is what we call Kametz Katan, as, (in this verse) “And God dealt well (וַיֶּיטָב) with the midwives” (to Rashi the root it טב; we take it as יטב); (Lamentations 2:5) “וַיָרָב for the daughter of Judah [mourning]” i. e. He increased (made great) the mourning; (root רֹב; we take it as רבה). Similarly (II Chronicles 36:20) “וַיָּגָל the remnant” which occurs in connection with Nebuzaradon, i. e. he caused the remnant to be exiled; (Judges 15:4) וַיָּפָן tail to tail”, i. e. he turned the tails one towards the other (more lit., he caused one tail to turn to the other) — all these express the meaning “he caused others to do something” (i. e. they are of the Hiphil conjugation). When, however, it speaks in the sense of “and he did something” (3rd masc. sing, imperf. Kal with Vau conv.), the י has the vowel Chirik. For example, (Leviticus 10:20) “וַיִיטַב in his eyes” — this means, “it was good”. Similarly (in this verse) the people”, i. e. the people became many; (2 Kings 25:21) “וַיִגָל Judah”, i. e. Judah became an exile; (2:12) “וַיִפֵן this way and that way”, i. e. he turned this way and that way. Do not answer me (do not raise an objection) by quoting the words וַיֵּלֶךְ and וַיֵּשֶׁב and וַיַרֶד and וַיֵּצֵא (saying that these verbal forms also have ו and י prefixed and the י has the vowel Tzéré and yet they are Kal, not Hiphil forms), because these are not of the same class of verbs as those above-mentioned, for the י is part of the root in them — in יֵלֵךְ and יֵשֵׁב and יֵרֵד and יֵצֵא, the י is a third root letter in each of these.
Da'at Zekenim
כי ימוך אחיך ומכר מאחוזתו, “if your brother has become impoverished, and as a result had been forced to sell part of his ancestral land holdings;” the Torah implies that this misfortune befell him because he sold the crop that grew in his field during the seventh year. (Compare Rashi) We do indeed find a similar verse that during the period of the prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in Chronicles II 36,20, that the Israelites were forced to sell themselves as slaves to the gentiles in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, who had stated that this situation would last until the soil of the land of Israel would once more find favour in G–d’s eyes, having paid back the sh’mittah years it had been worked during the seventy years of the first exile.
Ibn Ezra
[Daniel 2:39] Uvatrekh (וּבָתְרָךְ - And after you): And after you an inferior kingdom will arise. [The word for inferior is] araʿ (אֲרַע), like the Targum’s rendering [of the concept as] ‘lower’ (tachtayim - תַּחְתַּיִים). And because of it [this sense of lowness inherent in the root], the earth is called arʿa (אַרְעָא) [in Aramaic], for it is beneath everything. The Gaon Rav Saadia—and all the commentators relied upon him—said: That the gold is the kingdom of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, his son Evil-merodach, and Belshazzar his grandson. With him [Belshazzar], the kingdom of the Chaldeans ceased. And so it is written concerning him: “That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain (b'he b'leilya q'til Belshe'tztzar malka). And Darius the Mede received the kingdom (v'Daryavesh Mada'ah qabbel malkhuta)” [Daniel 5:30-6:1]. And this view is correct, for Scripture says: “And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son” [Jeremiah 27:7]. And it is also written: “and they were servants to him and to his sons” [II Chronicles 36:20] – [the referenced ‘sons’ being] Evil-merodach and Belshazzar his son [i.e., grandson]. For a grandson is [sometimes] called a son, like “to Reuel their father” [Exodus 2:18], for he [Reuel] is Hobab, Moses' father-in-law [cf. Numbers 10:29; Judges 4:11 identify Hobab as father-in-law, traditionally equated with Reuel/Jethro]. And it is written: “And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin... Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin...” [II Kings 25:27 / Jeremiah 52:31]. And behold, he [Evil-merodach] is between the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the reign of Belshazzar.