And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
Parallel translations
- WEB and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
- BSB My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.
- NKJV and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
- NASB and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
- NLT My anger will blaze against you, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.
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
God warns that His wrath will fall on oppressors, making their own wives widows and children fatherless. Injustice against the weak provokes God's judgment.
Overview
The severe warning shows how seriously God takes the oppression of the defenseless, threatening fitting judgment on the cruel. His justice ensures that mistreatment of the vulnerable will not go unanswered. This holy wrath against injustice magnifies the mercy of Christ, who bore divine judgment so that sinners might find refuge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 109:9Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- Jer 15:8Their 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.
- Ps 78:63–64The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
- Ps 69:24Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
- Ps 76:7Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
- Lam 5:3We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
- Ps 90:11Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
- Heb 10:31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- Rom 2:5–9But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Job 27:13–15This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
- Job 31:23For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
- Luke 6:38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
- Jer 18:21Therefore 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.
- Nah 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:24 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
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