For Thus says the LORD, see 2.2.

Behold: See 1.6.

The way of life and the way of death: See the similar statement in Deut 30.15, 19. In the present context life is escape from being put to death at the hands of the Babylonians, as verse 9 makes clear. The way of life and the way of death are expressed clearly in Good News Translation: “the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .