The word of the Lord came, &c. Here begins a new discourse, wherein God forbids Jeremiah to marry, principally with a view to show the miseries of parents, and the confused and ruinous state of things in Judea. “Fruitfulness was promised as a blessing under the law, Deuteronomy 28:4, but ceased to be so in such difficult times as were coming upon the Jewish nation. For parents could not promise to themselves any comfort in their children, who must be exposed to the many miseries that attend a hostile invasion and a conquering army.” Lowth. They shall die of grievous deaths Hebrew ממותי תחלאים, mortibus ægritudinum, id est, ægerrimis, Buxtorf. Literally, of deaths of sicknesses, that is, very sorrowful deaths; meaning, Blaney thinks, epidemical disorders, (such as the pestilence,) terminating in death. It, no doubt, however, also includes death by the sword and by famine.
Jeremiah 16:1-4
1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.