The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- 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.
- NKJV The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
- NASB ‘Outside the sword will make them childless, And inside, terror— Both young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hair.
- NLT Outside, the sword will bring death, and inside, terror will strike both young men and young women, both infants and the aged.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Outside the sword bereaves and inside is terror, striking young and old, infant and aged alike. It matters because it depicts judgment as sparing no one in its reach.
Overview
The pairing of sword without and terror within pictures inescapable danger on every side. The sweep from nursing infant to gray-haired elder shows the totality of the calamity. Such sobering judgment language reveals the seriousness of covenant unfaithfulness and magnifies the safety found in God's mercy, secured for His people through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezek 7:15The 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.
- Lam 1:20Behold, 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.
- 2 Chr 36:17Therefore 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.
- Isa 30:16But 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.
- Lam 4:4The 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.
- Lev 26:36–37And 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.
- Jer 9:21For 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.
- 2 Cor 7:5For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
- Lam 2:19–22Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.