Jeremiah 18:21

Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
up	תֵּ֨ן ten	H5414	to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
children	בְּנֵיהֶ֜ם be.nei.Hem	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
famine	לָרָעָ֗ב la.ra.'Av	H7458	hunger (more or less extensive) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
out	וְהַגִּרֵם֮ ve.ha.gi.Rem	H5064	to flow · conjunction + verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
force	יְדֵי ye.dei-	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders dual construct
sword	חֶרֶב֒ che.Rev	H2719	drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
wives	נְשֵׁיהֶ֤ם ne.shei.Hem	H802	a woman · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
bereaved	שַׁכֻּלוֹת֙ sha.ku.lOt	H7909	bereaved · adjective, feminine plural absolute
widows	וְאַלְמָנ֔וֹת ve.'al.ma.Not	H490	a widow · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural absolute
men	וְאַ֨נְשֵׁיהֶ֔ם ve.'An.shei.Hem	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
put	הֲרֻ֣גֵי ha.Ru.gei	H2026	to smite with deadly intent · verb, qal passive participle, masculine plural construct
death	מָ֑וֶת Ma.vet	H4194	death (natural or violent) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
men	בַּח֣וּרֵיהֶ֔ם ba.Chu.rei.Hem	H970	properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
slain	מֻכֵּי mu.kei-	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hophal passive participle, masculine plural construct
sword	חֶ֖רֶב Che.rev	H2719	drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
battle	בַּמִּלְחָמָֽה ba.mil.cha.Mah	H4421	a battle (i.e. the engagement) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 109:9-20 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Exodus 22:24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
Deuteronomy 32:25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
Jeremiah 9:21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the str…
Jeremiah 15:8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noond…
Jeremiah 16:3-4 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare…
Lamentations 5:3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses;…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:18–end

The prophet here, as sometimes before, brings in his own affairs, but very much for instruction to us. I. See here what are the common methods of the persecutors. We may see this in Jeremiah's enemies, Jer 18:18. 1. They laid their heads together to consult what they should do against him, both to be revenged on him for what he had said and to stop his mouth for the future: They said, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. The enemies of God's people and ministers have been often very crafty themselves, and confederate with one another, to do them mischief. What they cannot act to the prejudice of religion separately they will try to do in concert. The wicked plots against the just…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:21

pour out their blood by the force of the sword--literally, "by the hands of the sword." So Eze 35:5. MAURER with JEROME translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But compare Psa 63:10, Margin; Isa 53:12. In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he doubtless ceased not to intercede. We are not to draw an example from this, which is a special case. put to death--or, as in Jer 15:2, "perish by the death plague" [MAURER]. men . . . young men--HO…

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John Gill on 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" (f); 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,…

Dictionary and topics

Ingratitude · Punishment of — Punishment of
Jeremiah · .Conspiracy against — .Conspiracy against
War · Often attended by: Cruelty — Often attended by: Cruelty
Widows · Increase of, threatened as a punishment — Increase of, threatened as a punishment

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Jeremiah 18:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:21

John Gill on Jeremiah 18:21

Dictionary and topics

Jeremiah 18:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:21

John Gill on Jeremiah 18:21

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Jeremiah 18:21

Keil & Delitzsch on Jeremiah 18:18–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 18:21-23

Rashi on Jeremiah 18:21