Jeremiah 15:2 Meaning and Explanation
“And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Verse 1 ended with a command to go forth, and any listener would immediately ask the obvious thing: go forth where? God anticipates the question and supplies Jeremiah with words before it is spoken. The reply arrives in a grim fourfold cadence that has echoed through Scripture ever since, and its shape is worth slowing down over.
The answer to the question his hearers will ask is placed in Jeremiah's mouth ahead of time. Where they go forth has already been assigned: death, sword, famine, or captivity, each to the portion appointed.
The Context of Jeremiah 15:2
Jeremiah is being briefed for a public confrontation in Jerusalem. The LORD supplies both the anticipated question from the crowd and the prophet's scripted reply, a pattern found several times in this book. The verse sits between the refusal of intercession in verse 1 and the four appointed agents of destruction in verse 3. Verse 4 gives the historical reason, reaching back to the reign of Manasseh. The larger setting is Judah under pressure from the north, with prophets in chapter 14 promising peace and assuring the people they would see no sword and no famine.
What Does Jeremiah 15:2 Mean?
The reply is built as four matched clauses, each naming a destiny and then repeating it: such as are for death, to death. That repetition makes the sentence sound like a docket being read aloud. Nothing is explained and nothing is softened. The four terms move from the general toward the specific: death, then the sword of the invader, then famine inside a besieged city, then captivity for those who survive both. Captivity comes last, which quietly leaves a remnant alive at the end of the list. The phrase Thus saith the LORD frames the whole answer as a verdict delivered with the authority of the one who speaks it.
Fourfold lists of judgment recur among the prophets, and the covenant background lies in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, where sword, pestilence, famine, and scattering among the nations are named as what follows sustained covenant-breaking. Jeremiah is applying terms Judah had known for centuries. Verse 3 immediately extends the picture with four kinds appointed over them, and verse 4 states the cause. The verse also assumes that God assigns portions. Each group is described as being for something, which is sober language about a settled outcome. The same book insists in chapter 18 that a nation turning from evil changes what God does with it.
Jeremiah 21:8-9 shows the other side of this assignment. There the prophet sets before the same city the way of life and the way of death, and says that whoever goes out and surrenders will live and have his life for a prey. Judgment on the nation left a door open for individuals. At the far end of the canon the imagery returns in Revelation 6:8, where sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the earth are gathered into one sentence, the same cluster Jeremiah holds together in verses 2 and 3. The prophet's list became settled biblical shorthand for a reckoning long refused.
Jeremiah 15:2 in the Original Language
maweth (מָוֶת), 'death' -- the ordinary Hebrew noun for death; in judgment lists of this kind it is commonly understood of death by plague or disease, since it is named alongside the sword and the famine as a separate agent within the same sentence.
Bible Verses Related to Jeremiah 15:2
“When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
- Jeremiah 14:12
“And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.”
- Leviticus 26:25
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.”
- Ezekiel 5:12
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
- Revelation 6:8
Where Jeremiah 15:2 Echoes in Scripture
Revelation 13:10 picks up this cadence almost exactly, speaking of the one who leads into captivity going into captivity and the one who kills with the sword being killed with the sword, and closing with a call for the patience and faith of the saints. John writes to churches under pressure. The same rhythm that announced Judah's sentence is turned into an assurance that violence returns upon those who deal it, and that God's people can wait through it without answering in kind.
How to Apply Jeremiah 15:2 Today
Jeremiah is handed his words before the confrontation begins. That is worth noticing when we dread a conversation we cannot avoid. God is willing to prepare us in advance for what we will have to say. There is also a lesson in the plainness of the reply. Judah's popular prophets had been promising that none of this would happen, and their comfort proved cruel. Telling a friend the actual shape of a consequence, gently and without embellishment, serves them far better than feeding a hope we already know to be false.
Reflection & Prayer
When someone asks us a hard question, do we answer with what is true or with what will end the conversation quickly? A prayer: Lord, give me words I can stand behind. Where I have softened your truth to keep the peace, forgive me, and give me the courage and the gentleness to speak plainly to the people I love.