Jeremiah 18:21

21 Now, hand their children over to famine. Pour out their [blood] by using your sword. Then their wives will become childless widows. Their husbands will be put to death. Their young men will be struck down in battle.

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 Pay attention to me, O LORD, and listen to what my accusers say.

20 Good should not be paid back with evil. They dig a pit to take my life. Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them in order to turn your anger away from them.

21 Now, hand their children over to famine. Pour out their [blood] by using your sword. Then their wives will become childless widows. Their husbands will be put to death. Their young men will be struck down in battle.

22 Make them cry out from their homes when you suddenly send troops against them, because they dug a pit to catch me and hid snares for my feet.

23 But you, O LORD, know that they plan to kill me. Don't forgive their crimes. Don't wipe their sins out of your sight. Make them stumble in your presence. Deal with them when you get angry.