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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 7:15“‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence.
- Lam 1:20“See, Yahweh; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaves. At home it is like death.
- 2 Chr 36:17Therefore 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.
- Isa 30:16but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”; therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift”; therefore those who pursue you will be swift.
- Lam 4:4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaks it to them.
- Lev 26:36–37“‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues.
- Jer 9:21For 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.
- 2 Cor 7:5For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was inside.
- Lam 2:19–22Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.
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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.