(16) I will cast thee . . .--Literally, I send thee. The verb is the same as in the preceding verse, and is repeated with an emphatic irony.

This year thou shalt die . . .--The punishment is announced, with time given for repentance. In part, perhaps, the threat may have tended to work out its own fulfilment through the gnawing consciousness of shame and confusion in the detection of the false prophet's assumptions. He knew that the Lord had not sent him. Seven months passed, and then the stroke fell. It is one of the instances of the prophet's work, as "rooting out" and "pulling down" (Jeremiah 1:10), and has its parallels in the punishment of Ananias, in Acts 5:4-5, and of Elymas, in Acts 13:11.

Verse 16. - I will east thee; rather, I song thee away. Possibly, as Hitzig suggests, there is an allusion to the preceding verse, in which the same verb occurs. Thou hast taught rebellion; literally, thou hast spoken turning aside. To "speak turning aside (or, 'rebellion')" is a phrase of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 13:6), where it is used, as here, of opposition, not to Jehovah, but to revealed truth.

28:10-17 Hananiah is sentenced to die, and Jeremiah, when he has received direction from God, boldly tells him so; but not before he received that commission. Those have much to answer for, who tell sinners that they shall have peace, though they harden their hearts in contempt of God's word. The servant of God must be gentle to all men. He must give up even his right, and leave the Lord to plead his cause. Every attempt of ungodly men to make vain the purposes of God, will add to their miseries.Therefore thus saith the Lord,.... Because of this heinous offence, in lying in the name of the Lord, and deceiving the people:

behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; with the utmost indignation and abhorrence, as not worthy to live upon it: it signifies that he should die, and that not a natural, but violent death, by the immediate hand of God, by some judgment upon him; and so be by force taken off the earth, and buried in it, and be no more seen on it:

this year thou shalt die; within the present year, reckoning from this time; so that, had he died any time within twelve months from hence, it would have been sufficient to have verified the prophecy:

because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord; to despise his word by his prophet; to contradict his will; to refuse subjection to the king of Babylon; to neglect his instructions, directions, and exhortations; and to believe a lie.