Jeremiah 18:21

21 For this cause, let their children be without food, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be without children and become widows; let their men be overtaken by death, and their young men be put to the sword in the fight.

Jeremiah 18:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:21

Therefore deliver up their children to the famine
To be starved, and perish by it, as they were in the siege of Jerusalem, both by the Chaldeans, and the Romans: and pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword:
or, "upon the hands of the sword" ^F6; by means of it; that is, the blood of the parents of the children; let the one perish by famine, and the other by the sword; which, when thrust into a man, blood gushes out, and runs upon the sword to the handle of it: and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows;
let them have neither husbands nor children; which latter might be a comfort to them, when they had lost their husbands; but being stripped of these also, the affliction and distress must be the greater: and let their men be put to death;
or "slain with death" ^F7; with the pestilence, as Kimchi rightly interprets it; see ( Revelation 6:8 ) ; Jarchi understands it of the angel of death; see ( Hebrews 2:14 ) ; [let] their young men [be] slain by the sword in battle;
such being commonly employed in military service, as being the most proper persons for it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (brx ydy le) "super manus gladii", Montanus, Schmidt.
F7 (twm ygrh wyhy) "occisi morte", Pagninus, Montanus, "i.e. peste" Schmidt; "occisi mortis", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 18:21 In-Context

19 Give thought to me, O Lord, and give ear to the voice of those who put forward a cause against me.

20 Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them.

21 For this cause, let their children be without food, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be without children and become widows; let their men be overtaken by death, and their young men be put to the sword in the fight.

22 Let a cry for help go up from their houses, when you send an armed band on them suddenly: for they have made a hole in which to take me, and have put nets for my feet secretly.

23 But you, Lord, have knowledge of all the designs which they have made against my life; let not their evil-doing be covered or their sin be washed away from before your eyes: but let it be a cause of falling before you: so do to them in the time of your wrath.