Thus says the LORD: See the comment at 2.2.

Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence: The various fates of the people are each stated in an abbreviated manner in Hebrew. Some languages may require a fuller statement, as in Good News Translation “Some are doomed to die by disease—that’s where they will go!” Other possibilities include “Some are marked for disease” and “Some are destined to die by disease”; or the line could be translated “Those who are destined to die by disease will die by disease.”

Pestilence is more literally “death” (New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version). However, there are places in the Old Testament where “death” has the meaning of “plague” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “disease” (Good News Translation).

Sword is here the equivalent of “war” (Good News Translation); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “death by the sword.”

It seems clear that in this verse the pestilence, sword, and famine are all referring to ways the people will die, as Good News Translation makes clear (see 14.12). Only those who are led into captivity (exile) will escape death.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .