Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 12:17

"But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 12:17 (ASV)

I will utterly pluck up. — In this verse, as in the preceding one, there is an obvious reference to the prophet’s calling as described in Jeremiah 1:10, where the very same word is used that is rendered there as root out. The adverb “utterly” answers to the usual Hebrew reduplication of emphasis.