Jeremiah 43:11

43:11 He will come and attack Egypt. Those who are destined to die of disease will die of disease. Those who are destined to be carried off into exile will be carried off into exile. Those who are destined to die in war will die in war. ¹ 

Jeremiah 9:21

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in ²  through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

Jeremiah 15:2

15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this:

“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.

Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.

Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.

Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ³ 

Jeremiah 21:8

21:8 “But ⁴  tell the people of Jerusalem ⁵  that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 52:11

52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ⁷  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

Jeremiah 52:34

52:34 He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.

Jeremiah 8:3

8:3 However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,” ⁸  says the Lord who rules over all. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 18:21

18:21 So let their children die of starvation.

Let them be cut down by the sword. ¹⁰ 

Let their wives lose their husbands and children.

Let the older men die of disease ¹¹ 

and the younger men die by the sword in battle.

Jeremiah 18:23

18:23 But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not pardon their crimes!

Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ¹² 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ¹³ 

Jeremiah 26:11

26:11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, ¹⁴  “This man should be condemned to die ¹⁵  because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so ¹⁶  with your own ears.”

Jeremiah 26:16

26:16 Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said, ¹⁷  “This man should not be condemned to die. ¹⁸  For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.” ¹⁹ 

[43:11]  ¹ tn As in 15:2 the Hebrew is very brief and staccato-like: “those to death to death, and those to captivity to captivity, and those to the sword to the sword.” As in 15:2 most commentaries and English versions assume that the word “death” refers to death by disease. See the translator’s note on 15:2 and compare also 18:21 where the sword is distinctly connected with “war” or “battle” and is distinct from “killed by death [i.e., disease].”

[9:21]  ² sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.

[15:2]  ³ tn It is difficult to render the rhetorical force of this passage in meaningful English. The text answers the question “Where should we go?” with four brief staccato-like expressions with a play on the preposition “to”: Heb “Who to the death, to the death and who to the sword, to the sword and who to the starvation, to the starvation and who to the captivity, to the captivity.” The word “death” here is commonly understood to be a poetic substitute for “plague” because of the standard trio of sword, famine, and plague (see, e.g., 14:12 and the notes there). This is likely here and in 18:21. For further support see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:440. The nuance “starvation” rather than “famine” has been chosen in the translation because the referents here are all things that accompany war.

[21:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “And/But unto this people you shall say…” “But” is suggested here by the unusual word order which offsets what they are to say to Zedekiah (v. 3).

[21:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “these people.”

[21:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “Behold I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”

[52:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Death will be chosen rather than life by the remnant who are left from this wicked family in all the places where I have banished them.” The sentence is broken up and restructured to avoid possible confusion because of the complexity of the English to some modern readers. There appears to be an extra “those who are left” that was inadvertently copied from the preceding line. It is missing from one Hebrew ms and from the Greek and Syriac versions and is probably not a part of the original text.

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[18:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.

[18:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.

[18:23]  ⁸ sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[18:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[26:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “the priests and prophets said to the leaders and the people….” The long sentence has been broken up to conform better with contemporary English style and the situational context is reflected in “laid their charges.”

[26:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”

[26:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it.”

[26:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”

[26:16]  ¹¹ sn Contrast v. 11.

[26:16]  ¹² tn Heb “For in the name of the Lord our God he has spoken to us.” The emphasis is on “in the name of…”