Jeremiah 18:21

21 {Therefore} give their children to the famine, and hand them over to [the] {power} of [the] sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead [by the] sword in the 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 Listen attentively to me, [O] Yahweh, and listen to [the] voice of my opponents.

20 Should good be repaid in place of evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember my standing {before you} to speak good for them, to avert your wrath from them.

21 {Therefore} give their children to the famine, and hand them over to [the] {power} of [the] sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead [by the] sword in the battle.

22 Let a cry for help be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring upon them [the] raiding band, for they have dug a pit to catch me, and they have fixed secretly a trap for my feet.

23 But you, [O] Yahweh, you know {all their plans of assassination against me}. You must not make atonement for their iniquity, and you must not cause their sin to be blotted out from {before you}. But let them be overthrown {before you}. Deal with them in the time of your anger.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "To thus"
• [b] Literally "hand"