The way of life, and the way of death. — The words are not unlike those of Deuteronomy 11:26-27; Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, but there is something like a solemn irony in their application here. They obviously present themselves, not with the wide spiritual application with which they meet us there, but are to be taken in their lowest and most literal sense. The “way of life” is no longer that way of righteousness which the men of Judah had forsaken, leading to the life of eternal blessedness, but simply submission to the Chaldæans, and the life so gained was one of exile and poverty, if not of bondage also.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 21:8
Jeremiah 21:8
8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.