Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 11:21-23
YHWH Declares The Death Sentence Against Anathoth (Jeremiah 11:21).
‘Therefore thus says YHWH concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, “You shall not prophesy in the name of YHWH, that you die not by our hand.” Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts,
YHWH's response was to pronounce His verdict against the men of Anathoth who had threatened Jeremiah with death if he prophesied in the name of YHWH. The double repetition of ‘thus says YHWH' confirms the emphasis and certainty of fulfilment of the verdict.
“Behold, I will punish them.
The young men will die by the sword,
Their sons and their daughters will die by famine,
And there will be no remnant to them,
For I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth,
Even the year of their visitation.”
The sentence is one of death against the whole households of the would be murderers. Their young men of fighting age would die by the sword, their other young men and women would die through famine, no remnant of them would remain. For the year when YHWH would visit His judgment on the men of Anathoth was coming, and it would take the form of evil being brought on them in the form of devastating invasion. Thus the young men would die defending their homeland, and the famine would be at least partly the result of the marauding activities of the enemy, destroying them by fire after taking possession of such supplies of food as they required for their own use.