I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
Jeremiah 29:16 Yahweh says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone with you into captivity;
Jeremiah 29:17 Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.
Jeremiah 29:18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
Jeremiah 29:19 because they have not listened to my words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 29:20 Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
The verse centers on "pursue", "after", "sword", "famine", "pestilence", "deliver", "tossed", and "back". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pursue" and "after", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Yahweh of Armies says Behold I will..." into verse 19's "because they have not listened to my...", so "pursue" and "after" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "pursue" and "after" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.