8
And to this peopleוְאֶל הָעָם הַזֶּהyou shall say,תֹּאמַר‘ThusכֹּהsaysאָמַרYHWH:יְהוָהLook, Iהִנְנִיam settingנֹתֵןbefore youלִפְנֵיכֶםthe wayאֶת דֶּרֶךְof lifeהַחַיִּיםand the wayוְאֶת דֶּרֶךְof death.הַמָּוֶת
Jeremiah 21:8
Study it in the app“And to this people you shall say, ‘Thus says YHWH: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
With the Hebrew beneath
Jeremiah 21:8, word by word
- And to this peopleעָםam
crowd
The people gathered in a place: the crowd, or the troops that go out to war.
Where else “am” appears- you shall sayתֹּאמַרtomar
say
To say with the mouth to someone what one thinks or wants, or to answer him.
Where else “tomar” appears- YHWHיְהוָהyehva
YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
Where else “yehva” appears- am settingנֹתֵןnoten
put
To place something somewhere.
Where else “noten” appears- before youפְנֵיfene
before
Literally "to the face of": in sight of someone, or on account of something.
Where else “fene” appears- the wayדֶּרֶךְderech
manner
The way one lives and acts.
Where else “derech” appears- of lifeחַיִּיםchayim
life
The span and strength of being alive, which come from God.
Where else “chayim” appears- of deathמָּוֶתmavet
death
The end of life: when someone stops breathing and returns to dust.
Where else “mavet” appears
Translation note
Cf. Deuteronomy 30:15, 19.
The context
7And afterward, declares YHWH, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not pity them, and he will not spare, and he will not have compassion.’
8 · This verse (above)
9He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his life as plunder.