Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
Parallel Translations
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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
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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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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and hurl them to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 18:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 109:9-20 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins. Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth; because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them. Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him. This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul.
- Exodus 22:24 and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
- Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
- Jeremiah 9:21 For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
- Jeremiah 15:8 Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.
- Jeremiah 16:3-4 For Yahweh says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land: “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”
- Lamentations 5:3 We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows.
- Amos 4:10 “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- 2 Chronicles 36:17 Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
- Jeremiah 11:20-23 But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause. “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy in Yahweh’s name, that you not die by our hand;’ therefore Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine. There will be no remnant to them, for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.’ ”
- Jeremiah 12:3 But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
- Jeremiah 15:2-3 It will happen, when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.” ’ “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
- Jeremiah 20:1-6 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in Yahweh’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house. On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib. For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’ ”
- Jeremiah 20:11-12 But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.
- 2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet seems here to have been driven through…
The Prophet seems here to have been driven through indignation to utter imprecations which are not consistent with a right feeling; for even if Christ had not said with his own mouth, that we are to pray for those who curse us, the very law of God, ever known to the holy fathers, was sufficient. Jeremiah then ought not to have uttered these curses, and to have imprecated final destruction on his enemies, thouglt they fully deserved it. But it must be observed, that he was moved not otherwise than by the Holy Spirit, to become thus indignant against his enemies; for he could not have been excused on the ground that indignation often transgresses the bounds of patience, for the children of God ought to bear all injuries to the utmost; but, as I have said, the Prophet here has announced nothing rashly, nor did he allow himself to wish anything as of himself, but obediently proclaimed what the Holy Spirit dictated, as his faithful instrument.
We have said elsewhere, that the first thing to be noticed is, that when we pray for any evil on the wicked, we ought not to act on private grounds; for he who has a regard to himself, will ever be led away by too strong an impulse; and even when our prayers are calmly and rightly formed, we are yet ever wrong, when we consult our private advantages or redress our own injuries. That is one thing. And secondly, we ought to have that wisdom which distinguishes between the elect and the reprobate. But as God bids us to suspend our judgment, inasmuch as we cannot surely know what will take place to-morrow, we ought not to imitate indiscriminately the Prophet in praying God to destroy and scatter ungodly men of whom we despair; for, as it has been stated, we are not certain what has been decreed in heaven. In short, whosoever is disposed, after the example of Jeremiah, to pray for a curse on his enemies, must be ruled by the same spirit, according to what Christ said to his disciples; for as God destroyed the wicked at the request of Elijah, the Apostles wished Christ to do the same by fire from heaven; but he said,
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“Ye know not by what spirit ye are, ruled.” (Luke 9:55)
They were unlike Elijah, and yet; wished like apes to imitate what he did.
But, as I have said, let first all regard to our own benefit or loss be dismissed, when we would shew ourselves indignant against the wicked; and secondly, let us have the spirit of wisdom and discretion; and lastly, let all the turbulent feelings of the flesh be checked, for as soon as anything human be mixed with our prayers, some confusion will ever be found. There was nothing turbulent in this imprecation of Jeremiah, for the Spirit of God ruled his heart and his tongue, and then he forgot himself; and lastly, he knew that they were reprobate and already doomed to final ruin. He therefore hesitated not, through the prophetic spirit, to imprecate on them what we here read. And there is no doubt but that he was ever solicitous for the remnant, for he knew that there were some faithful; and though they were unknown, he yet prayed God for them. But he fulminates here against the reprobate who were already given up to ruin. This is the reason why he hesitated not to pray that they might be delivered up to famine and given to the sword, so that their women might be bereaved and become widows, and their men put to death, and their youth smitten by the sword. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, which grew…
Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, which grew daily more and more, the Prophet being moved with God’s Spirit, without any carnal affection prayeth for their destruction, because he knew that it should tend to God’s glory, and profit of his Church.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the…
Jer 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.
Ver. 21. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine.] He who had prayed so hard for them, could and did pray here as earnestly against them; yet not out of private revenge, but by a prophetic spirit, whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin. This is usual with the psalmist and other prophets.
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And let their men be put to death.] Heb., Be killed with death. See Rev 2:23. {See Trapp on "Rev 2:23"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Deliver up their children to the famine; a dreadful…
Deliver up their children to the famine; a dreadful imprecation; we meet with more of the same nature, Jer 11:20; 15:15; 17:18. We find also several such imprecation in the Psalms, Psa 35:4; 40:14; 69:22-25,27,28; 109:6-10, &c. Hence a question is raised, whether it be lawful for God’s servants to pray for evil against their enemies. That which makes the doubt is, Christ’s command to us to pray for them that persecute us, Mat 5:43,44, his own example, and Stephen’s, Act 7:60. See the notes upon the aforementioned texts. It is doubtless our duty to pray for the conversion, forgiveness, and eternal salvation of our worst enemies; so Christ prayed, and Stephen, but neither of them prayed for their outward prosperity in their persecution and rage; and without doubt we may pray against God’s enemies, that God would tie their hands, weaken their power, confound their devices. For such other particulars as are mentioned in this verse, and the beginning of the following verse, and such as David mentions, Psa 69, we must know they were both prophets, and did but pray to God to do that thing which God had revealed to them he would do.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me…
Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me,.... However deep they had laid them; and however unknown they were to him; or however private and secret they might be thought to be by them; God is an omniscient God, and knows and sees all things; the thoughts of men's hearts, and all their secret designs in the dark against his ministers, people, and interest:
forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; they had sinned the unpardonable sin; or, however, a sin unto death; for which prayer for the forgiveness of it was not to be made, Jo1 5:16; this the prophet knew: what he here imprecates, and both before and after, must be considered, not as flowing from a private spirit, or from a spirit of malice and revenge; but what he delivered out under a spirit of prophecy, as foretelling what would be the sad estate and condition of these persons; for, otherwise, the temper and disposition of the prophet were the reverse; and he was inclined to sue for mercy for these people, as he often did; wherefore this is not to be drawn into a precedent and example for any to follow:
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but let them be overthrown before thee; by the sword, famine, and pestilence: or, "let them be made to stumble before thee" (i); and fall into perdition; they having made others to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths of truth and goodness; so that it was but a righteous thing that they should be punished after this manner; see Jer 18:15;
deal thus with them in the time of thine anger; the set time for his wrath to come upon them to the uttermost; then do unto them according to all the imprecations now made; which the prophet foresaw, and believed he would do; and therefore thus spake.
(i) "propellantur in offendiculum coram te", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "offensi ruant coram te", Cocceius.
Next: Jeremiah Chapter 19
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Therefore - But is it lawful for God's servants…
Therefore - But is it lawful for God's servants to pray for evil against their enemies? It is not lawful for Christians. It is doubtless our duty, to pray for the conversion, forgiveness, and eternal salvation of our worst enemies.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Therefore deliver up their children] The execrations…
Verse 21. Therefore deliver up their children] The execrations in these verses should be considered as simply prophetic declarations of the judgments which God was about to pour out on them.
If we consider them in their grammatical meaning, then they are not directions to us, to whom our Lawgiver has said, "Love your enemies."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Pour out ... sword - literally, “pour them out…
Pour out ... sword - literally, “pour them out upon the hands of the sword, i. e., give them up to the sword.”
Put to death - Rather, slain of death. The prophet’s phrase leaves it entirely indefinite in what way the men are to die.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Therefore. He foretells of the event, and approves of…
Therefore. He foretells of the event, and approves of the chastisement of the impenitent, (Calmet) whose "impurity might be a bad precedent for others.["] (St. Jerome) See chap. xvii. 18.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain pour out their blood by the force of the…
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].
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men . . . young men--HORSLEY distinguishes the former as married men past middle age; the latter, the flower of unmarried youth.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. Pour out their blood, etc. — Literally, pour…
21. Pour out their blood, etc. — Literally, pour them out upon thee hands of the sword; that is, give them up to its power.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21–23. See on Jer_17:18. Here also we may be…
21–23. See on Jer_17:18. Here also we may be permitted to consider the passage to be an editorial addition. Erbt retains 22 b and 23 as genuine, Gi. all but “and their … battle” (Jer_18:21), while Du. and Co. reject the passage, which in its bitter imprecations indeed forms a harsh contrast to the prophet’s expressions elsewhere of affectionate mourning for the attitude taken up by his countrymen, as well as to the teaching of the N.T. (Mat_5:44).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Therefore deliver up their children . . .—The…
(21) Therefore deliver up their children . . .—The bitter words that follow startle and pain us, like the imprecations of Psalms 35, 69, 109. To what extent they were the utterances of a righteous indignation, a true zeal for God, which had not yet learnt the higher lesson of patience and forgiveness, or embodied an element of personal vindictiveness, we are not called on to inquire, and could not, in any case, decide. It is not ours to judge another man’s servant. In all like cases we have to remember that the very truthfulness with which the prayer is recorded is at least a proof that the prophet felt, like Jonah, that he did well to be angry (Jon_4:9), that a righteous anger is at least one step towards a righteous love, and that we, as disciples of Christ, have passed, or ought to have passed, beyond that earlier stage.
Pour out their blood by the force of the sword.—Literally, with a bolder metaphor, pour them out into the hands of the sword.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Pour out their blood by the force, etc.; rather,…
Pour out their blood by the force, etc.; rather, spill them into the hands of, etc.; (see Psa_63:10) a phrase akin to that in Isa_53:12. The sword is personified. Let their men he put to death; another personification, for the Hebrew has "slain of Death pestilence is referred to, as Jer_15:2.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 give their children over to famine
give their children over to famine
The idiom "give over" means to place a person in the power of another person. Jeremiah speaks of "famine" as if it were a person who could have power over others. AT: "cause their children to die from famine" (See: Idiom and Personification)
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give them to the hands of those who use the sword
Here the word "hands" represents power. AT: "cause those who use the sword to have power over them" or "cause them to die in battle" (See: Metonymy)
let their women become bereaved and widows
"let the children and husbands of their women die." The word "bereaved" refers to a woman whose children have all died.
their men be killed
The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people kill their men" (See: Ellipsis and Active or Passive)
their young men killed by the sword in battle
The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people kill their young men with swords in battle" (See: Ellipsis and Active or Passive)
Let a distressed shout be heard
The phrase "a distressed shout" can be translated with a verbal phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Let people hear a distressed shout" or "Let people hear others shout in distress" (See: Active or Passive)
For they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for my feet
These two phrases share similar meanings. Jeremiah speaks of his enemies planning to kill him as if they had dug a pit for him to fall into and set traps in which to capture him. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
they have dug a pit
See how you translated this in Jeremiah 18:20.
have hidden traps for my feet
Here the word "feet" represents Jeremiah. AT: "have hidden traps for me" or "have hidden traps for me to step on" (See: Synecdoche)
Do not wipe their sins away from you
Jeremiah speaks of Yahweh forgiving his enemies' sins as if someone had written their sins down and Yahweh would erase them. This phrase means the same thing as the previous phrase. AT: "Do not pardon their sins" (See: Parallelism)
let them be overthrown before you
This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people overthrow them in your presence" (See: Active or Passive)
in the time of your wrath
The word "wrath" can be translated with a verb. AT: "when you are still angry with them" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
hand
children
famine
power
sword
snare
Yahweh
forgive
iniquity
sin
blot out
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:21-23 In his prayer for vengeance, Jeremiah asked God…
18:21-23 In his prayer for vengeance, Jeremiah asked God to fulfill his promised curses against those who violated his covenant (cp. Deut 27:11-26; 28:15-68; see also “Prayers for Vengeance” Theme Note).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.