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,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all. ² 

Jeremiah 18:21

18:21 So let their children die of starvation.

Let them be cut down by the sword. ³ 

Let their wives lose their husbands and children.

Let the older men die of disease ⁴ 

and the younger men die by the sword in battle.

Jeremiah 26:8

26:8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some ⁵  of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 26:11

26:11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said, ⁷  “This man should be condemned to die ⁸  because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so ⁹  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, ¹⁰  “This man should not be condemned to die. ¹¹  For he has spoken to us under the authority of the Lord our God.” ¹² 

[8:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[18:21]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[26:8]  ⁵ tn The translation again represents an attempt to break up a long complex Hebrew sentence into equivalent English ones that conform more to contemporary English style: Heb “And as soon as Jeremiah finished saying all that…the priests…grabbed him and said…” The word “some” has been supplied in the translation, because obviously it was not all the priests, the prophets, and all the people, but only some of them. There is, of course, rhetorical intent here to show that all were implicated, although all may not have actually participated. (This is a common figure called synecdoche where all is put for a part – all for all kinds or representatives of all kinds. See E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 614-19, and compare usage in Acts 10:12; Matt 3:5.)

[26:8]  ⁶ tn Or “You must certainly die!” The construction here is again emphatic with the infinitive preceding the finite verb (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Exod 21:28).

[26:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “a sentence of death to this man.”

[26:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “it.”

[26:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets…”

[26:16]  ¹⁰ sn Contrast v. 11.

[26:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “For in the name of the Lord our God he has spoken to us.” The emphasis is on “in the name of…”