Deuteronomy 32:25
23 I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
24 They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
26 I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
- KJV
- The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
- WEB
- Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
- ASV
- Without shall the sword bereave, And in the chambers terror; [It shall destroy] both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
- DARBY
- From without shall the sword bereave them, and in the chambers, terror Both the young man and the virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
- BLB
- Outside the sword will bereave, and inside [shall be] terror for the young man and virgin, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
- ÅB
- Ute skal sverdet, inne i kammerne redsel bortrive både unge menn og jomfruer, det diende barn og den gråhårede mann.
- OTB
- Utenfor skal sverdet gjøre barnløse, og inne terror, for unge menn og jomfruer likt, det diebarnet med den gråhårede mannen.
- B1930
- Ute skal sverdet, inne i kammerne redsel bortrive både unge menn og jomfruer, det diende barn og den gråhårede mann.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ezekiel 7:15
The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
Read in contextLamentations 1:20
See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
Read in contextJeremiah 9:21
For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
Read in context2 Corinthians 7:5
For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.
Read in contextLamentations 4:4
The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
Read in contextLeviticus 26:36–37
As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
Read in contextIsaiah 30:16
“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.
Read in context2 Chronicles 36:17
So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
Read in context