Jeremiah 8:3

3 "Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them," declares the LORD of Armies.

Jeremiah 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:3

And death shall be chosen rather than life
By them that should be alive in those times, who would be carried captive into other lands, and be used very hardly, and suffer greatly, by the nations among whom they should dwell; see ( Revelation 9:6 ) . The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, make this to be a reason of the former, reading the words thus, "because they have chosen death rather than life"; see ( Deuteronomy 30:19 ) , but the other sense is best, which is confirmed by what follows: by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family;
the nation of the Jews, become very corrupt and degenerate; so the people of Israel are called the whole family of Israel, ( Amos 3:1 ) , now it is foretold, that those which remained of that people, who died not by famine, or were not slain by the sword, yet should be in such a miserable condition, as that death would be more eligible to them than life: even which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith
the Lord of hosts:
for, though they were carried captive by men, yet the thing was of the Lord, and a just punishment upon them for their sins.

Jeremiah 8:3 In-Context

1 The LORD declares, "At that time the bones of the kings and the leaders of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the others who lived in Jerusalem will be taken out of their graves.

2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.

3 "Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them," declares the LORD of Armies.

4 "Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.

5 The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning. They still cling to deceit. They refuse to return.