Jeremiah 29:18

18 I will chase them with war, hunger, and terrible diseases. I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them and be shocked and will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go.

Jeremiah 29:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:18

And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine,
and with the pestilence
Or, "follow after F1 them"; such as should make their escape out of the city, and go into Egypt, or other countries, for shelter and safety, should be pursued by the vengeance of God, and should fall by sword, famine, or pestilence, in other places: and will deliver them;
such as should not perish by the above mentioned calamities: to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth;
where they should be scattered, and live in exile: or "for a shaking to all the kingdoms of the earth" F2; who should shake and tremble at such a dreadful spectacle of vengeance; or rather they should shake and tremble at the wrath of God upon them; or else their enemies, among whom they should be, should shake their heads at them, by way of insult and triumph over them: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach,
among all the nations whither I have driven them;
where men shall look at them with amazement, and curse theft, and hiss at them, and reproach them, as the offscouring of the world.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Mhyrxa ytpdrw) "et persequar post eos", Calvin, Piscator.
F2 (hewzl) "in commotionem", Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 29:18 In-Context

16 But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David's throne now and all the other people still in Jerusalem, your relatives who did not go as captives to Babylon with you.
17 The Lord All-Powerful says: "I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat.
18 I will chase them with war, hunger, and terrible diseases. I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them and be shocked and will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go.
19 This is because they have not listened to my message," says the Lord. "I sent my message to them again and again through my servants, the prophets, but they did not listen," says the Lord.
20 You captives, whom I forced to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon, listen to the message from the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.