The sword once again represents war, as in 5.12, where it is also mentioned in conjunction with famine (Good News Translation “hunger”). The expression the sword … shall overtake you can be rendered “the war … will follow you there.”

Follow hard after translates one word in Hebrew, which Good News Translation, New International Version, and a number of other versions render simply as “follow.” The verb literally means “cleave [to],” and is found elsewhere in 13.11 (Revised Standard Version “cling to”). The famine … shall follow hard after you can be expressed as “the hunger … will still be with you.”

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 .