Jeremiah 9:16

16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

Jeremiah 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:16

I will scatter them also among the Heathen
Besides the bitter judgments of famine and pestilence during the siege, what remained of them should be carried captive out of their own land into foreign countries, than which nothing could be more distressing: whom neither they or their fathers have known;
a circumstance greatly aggravating their captivity: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them;
or men that kill with the sword, as the Targum: it chiefly regards such of them as were scattered among the Moabites and Ammonites, and especially that went into Egypt; see ( Jeremiah 44:27 Jeremiah 44:28 ) .

Jeremiah 9:16 In-Context

14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink.
16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilled women to come;
18 let them quickly raise a dirge over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.