For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that they may be found.

For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will this time sling out the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may be found.

For thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, And have been an adversary to them, So that they are found out.

For the Lord has said, I will send the people in flight like a stone from the land at this time, troubling them so that they will be conscious of it.

For thus says the Lord: "Behold, in this turn, I will cast the inhabitants of the land far away. And I will afflict them no matter where they may be found."

Quia sic dicit Iehova, Ecce ego funda projiciens habitatores terrae vice hac, et coarctabo eos (vel, faciam ut obsideant eos) ut inveniant.

Sling out - A similar metaphor for violent ejection occurs in Isaiah 22:18 (see the note).
At this once - Or, "at this time." Previous invasions had ended either in deliverance, or at most in temporary misfortune. God's long-suffering is exhausted, and this time Judaea must cease to be an independent nation.
That they may find it so - Omit "so," and explain either
(1) "I will distress them" with the rigors of a siege "that they may feel it, i. e., the distress; or,
(2) "that they may find" Me, God, that which alone is worth finding.

I will sling out the inhabitants of the land - I will project you with violence from your country. I will send you all into captivity. This discourse, from Jeremiah 10:17, is supposed to have been delivered in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim.

For thus saith the Lord,.... This is a reason enforcing the exhortation in the preceding verse, and shows that the same people that are spoken of here are addressed there.
Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once; meaning the inhabitants of the land of Judea; or otherwise the prophet would never have expressed such a concern for them as he does in the following verse. Their captivity is signified by the slinging of a stone out of a sling, and shows how sudden, swift, and certain, it would be: and that it would as easily and swiftly be done, and with equal force and rapidity, as a stone is slung out of a sling; and that it would be done by the Lord himself, whoever were the instruments:
and will distress them; or "straiten" (z) them, on every side; it seems to intend the siege; or bring them into great straits and difficulties, through the pestilence, famine, sword, and captivity:
that they may find it; so as he had spoken by his prophets, it coming to pass exactly as they had foretold. The Targum is,
"that they may receive the punishment of their sins;''
and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "that thy stroke may be found"; but the Syriac version is very different from either, "that they may seek me and find"; which is an end that is sometimes answered by afflictive dispensations.
(z) "oblidere faciana eos", some in Vatablus; "et angustabo, vel obsidebo eos", Schmidt; "faciam ut obsideant eos", Calvin; "arctum ipsis facium", Cocceius.

sling out--expressing the violence and suddenness of the removal to Babylon. A similar image occurs in Jeremiah 16:13; 1-Samuel 25:29; Isaiah 22:17-18.
at this once--at this time, now.
find it so--find it by experience, that is, feel it (Ezekiel 6:10). MICHAELIS translates, "I will bind them together (as in a sling) that they may reach the goal" (Babylon). English Version is best: "that they may find it so as I have said" (Numbers 23:19; Ezekiel 6:10).

Sing out - It denotes with how much violence and ease the Chaldeans shall hurry away the people into Babylon. And therefore it is said at this once, I will make one thorough quick work of it. May find it so - Though they would never believe it, yet they shall actually find the truth of my threatenings.