Jeremiah 18:21

¹⁹ Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

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.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

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: Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
KJV: 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.
WEB: 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.
ASV: Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
DARBY: Therefore give up their children to the famine, and deliver them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of children and be widows; and let their men be swept off by death, their young men be smitten by the sword in battle.
BLB: Therefore give over their children to the famine, and pour out by the hand of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows, and let their men be put to death, and their young men struck down by the sword in the battle!

ÅB: Gi derfor deres barn til hungeren, og overgi dem selv i sverdets vold, og la deres hustruer bli barnløse og enker, og deres menn bli drept av pesten, deres ungdom bli slått ihjel av sverdet i krigen!
OTB: Derfor, overgi deres barn til hungersnød, og overgi dem til sverdets makt; la deres koner bli barnløse og enker. La deres menn bli drept, deres unge menn slått ned av sverdet i kamp.
B1930: Gi derfor deres barn til hungeren, og overgi dem selv i sverdets vold, og la deres hustruer bli barnløse og enker, og deres menn bli drept av pesten, deres ungdom bli slått ihjel av sverdet i krigen!

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Psalms 109:9–20
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
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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.
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
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 them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Read in context
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; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Read in context
Lamentations 5:3
We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
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 noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
Read in context