Of course the word "destroy" does not appear.
You are arguing like someone who was told his forest will be left in cinders... and... you argue back with? That the word "fire" does not appear in the threat.. therefore it can not mean being destroyed...

..... hello?
Christianity today is in deep trouble. And, we see the very reason why online all the time these days. Its not arguing with objectivity. But arguing using imposed invented requirements that divert to only serve to distract away from the real issue that one wishes to deny.
Now.. How can Genesis 1:2 be possibly used as a threat by Jeremiah against rebellious Jews? If your meek rendering were to be applied? It sounds silly.
You keep failing to keep in mind, Jeremiah was confronting degenerate Jews. Jews who had become deeply hardened by habitual perversions in sinning. Murder was one of their sins. They needed to be clobbered by God with harsh reality to get through if it were to be done. You? You approach them with politically correct politeness. Totally out of touch with what Jeremiah had to deal with.
Its showing that
Genesis 1:2 was an after effect! The Jews knowing Hebrew saw it as a severe and horrible Judgment coming upon them.
After quoting Genesis 1:2, Jeremiah needed to add something. It was to tell the Jews that they would not be utterly destroyed (for that was how the earth was found in
Genesis 1:2)
27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation;
though I will not destroy it completely."
Read that?
....though I will not destroy it completely."
Jeremiah was modifying the original intent of Genesis 1:2.
For the Jews implicitly understood what the real meaning of "tohu wabohu" found in Genesis 1:2 meant. It was not a gentle .."empty and void." It was not some dainty words the Spirit moving Jeremiah was using...
It definitely indicated destruction! If not? Jeremiah would not have had to qualify his using of Genesis 1:2 by adding...
...though I will not destroy it completely."
Ready to be honest with me?