Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 21:8

"And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death." — Jeremiah 21:8 (ASV)

The way of life, and the way of death.—The words are similar to those in Deuteronomy 11:26-27; Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, but there is a kind of solemn irony in their application here. They obviously present themselves here not with the broad spiritual application they have in those passages, but are to be understood in their most basic and literal sense. The “way of life” is no longer that path of righteousness which the men of Judah had forsaken, a path leading to eternal blessedness. It now refers simply to submission to the Chaldeans, and the life gained in this way was one of exile and poverty, if not also of bondage.