Jeremiah 27:13
New International Version
Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the LORD has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

New Living Translation
Why do you insist on dying—you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon’s king?

English Standard Version
Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Berean Standard Bible
Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

King James Bible
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

New King James Version
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

New American Standard Bible
Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

NASB 1995
“Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the LORD has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

NASB 1977
“Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and pestilence, as the LORD has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

Legacy Standard Bible
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

Amplified Bible
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine and by virulent disease, as the LORD has spoken to any nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

Christian Standard Bible
Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, and plague as the LORD has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the LORD has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

American Standard Version
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Contemporary English Version
But if you refuse, then you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease, just as the LORD has warned.

English Revised Version
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Why should you and your people die in wars, famines, and plagues? The LORD has threatened the nations that don't serve the king of Babylon.

Good News Translation
Why should you and your people die in war or of starvation or disease? That is what the LORD has said will happen to any nation that does not submit to the king of Babylonia.

International Standard Version
Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by plague as the LORD has decreed about the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Majority Standard Bible
Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

NET Bible
There is no reason why you and your people should die in war or from starvation or disease! That's what the LORD says will happen to any nation that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

New Heart English Bible
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Webster's Bible Translation
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

World English Bible
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Why do you die, you and your people, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as YHWH has spoken concerning the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Young's Literal Translation
Why do ye die, thou and thy people, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that doth not serve the king of Babylon?

Smith's Literal Translation
Wherefore will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword and by famine and by death, as Jehovah spake against the nation who will not serve the king of Babel?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Catholic Public Domain Version
Why should you suffer death, you and your people, by the sword, and famine, and pestilence, just as the Lord has spoken against any nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon?

New American Bible
Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and pestilence, in accordance with the word the LORD has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

New Revised Standard Version
Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
So that you may not die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, according to that which the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And you shall not die, you and your people, by the sword, or by starvation, or by plague, as LORD JEHOVAH spoke against the people that will not serve the King of Babel
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
12And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live! 13Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? 14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying to you a lie.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 30:15-18
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, as well as death and disaster. / For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. / But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ...

2 Kings 18:31-32
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, / until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’

2 Chronicles 36:15-17
Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. / But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy. / So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,

Isaiah 1:19-20
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. / But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 55:6-7
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. / Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Ezekiel 18:31-32
Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? / For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Daniel 9:11-14
All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. / You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. / Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. ...

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Amos 5:4-6
For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live! / Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. / Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. / Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. / For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

Luke 13:34-35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! / Look, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

John 3:16-19
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. / For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. / Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ...

John 5:40
yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.


Treasury of Scripture

Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

why.

Jeremiah 38:20
But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

Proverbs 8:36
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Ezekiel 18:24,31
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die…

by the sword.

Jeremiah 27:8
And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Jeremiah 24:9
And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.

Jeremiah 38:2
Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.

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Jeremiah 27
1. By the type of bonds and yokes he prophesies the subduing of the neighbor kings
8. He exhorts them to yield, and not to believe the false prophets.
12. The like he does to Zedekiah.
19. He foretells the remnant of the vessels shall be carried to Babylon,














Why should you and your people die
This phrase is a rhetorical question posed by the prophet Jeremiah, urging the people to consider the consequences of their actions. The Hebrew root for "die" is "מוּת" (muth), which signifies physical death but also spiritual separation from God. Jeremiah is emphasizing the gravity of disobedience to God's command, which in this context, is to submit to Babylonian rule. Historically, this reflects the dire situation of Judah, facing imminent destruction due to their rebellion against God's ordained plan.

by the sword, famine, and plague
These three calamities are frequently mentioned together in the Old Testament as instruments of divine judgment (e.g., Ezekiel 5:12). The "sword" represents warfare and violence, "famine" indicates severe scarcity of food, and "plague" suggests widespread disease. In Hebrew, "sword" is "חֶרֶב" (chereb), "famine" is "רָעָב" (ra'av), and "plague" is "דֶּבֶר" (deber). These terms underscore the comprehensive nature of the judgment that would befall those who resist God's will. Archaeological evidence from the period shows that these were common consequences of sieges in the ancient Near East, lending historical weight to Jeremiah's warning.

as the LORD has decreed
The phrase highlights the sovereignty and authority of God in the affairs of nations. The Hebrew word for "decreed" is "דָּבַר" (dabar), meaning to speak or command. This underscores that the events are not random but are part of God's divine plan. From a conservative Christian perspective, this affirms the belief in God's ultimate control over history and His righteous judgment.

against any nation that does not serve
Here, "serve" is translated from the Hebrew "עָבַד" (avad), which means to work or be in bondage. The call to serve the king of Babylon is not merely political but is presented as an act of obedience to God's directive. This reflects the biblical theme that submission to earthly authorities can be an expression of submission to God, as long as it does not contradict His commands.

the king of Babylon
This refers to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who was used by God as an instrument of judgment against Judah. Historically, Babylon was a dominant empire during this period, and its king was seen as a powerful ruler. Theologically, this serves as a reminder that God can use even pagan nations to accomplish His purposes, a theme that resonates throughout the Bible, illustrating God's ability to work through all circumstances for His divine plan.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Why
לָ֤מָּה (lām·māh)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

should you
אַתָּ֣ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

and your people
וְעַמֶּ֔ךָ (wə·‘am·me·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

die
תָמ֙וּתוּ֙ (ṯā·mū·ṯū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

by the sword,
בַּחֶ֖רֶב (ba·ḥe·reḇ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

famine,
בָּרָעָ֣ב (bā·rā·‘āḇ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7458: Famine, hunger

and plague,
וּבַדָּ֑בֶר֙ (ū·ḇad·dā·ḇer)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1698: A pestilence

as
כַּֽאֲשֶׁר֙ (ka·’ă·šer)
Preposition-k | Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

has decreed
דִּבֶּ֣ר (dib·ber)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

against
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

any nation
הַגּ֕וֹי (hag·gō·w)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

that
אֲשֶׁ֥ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

does not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

serve
יַעֲבֹ֖ד (ya·‘ă·ḇōḏ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave

the king
מֶ֥לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Babylon?
בָּבֶֽל׃ (bā·ḇel)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 894: Babylon -- an eastern Mediterranean empire and its capital city


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 27:13 Why will you die you and your (Jer.)
Jeremiah 27:12
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