Deuteronomy 32:25

²³ I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

²⁴ They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

²⁶ I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

²⁷ Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done 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 without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
Read in context
Lamentations 1:20
Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
Read in context
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 streets.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 7:5
For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
Read in context
Lamentations 4:4
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
Read in context
Leviticus 26:36–37
And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
Read in context
Isaiah 30:16
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
Read in context
2 Chronicles 36:17
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.
Read in context