For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
Parallel translations
- WEB For 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.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children— no longer to be outside! And the young men— no longer on the streets!
- NASB For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To eliminate the children from the streets, The young men from the public squares.
- NLT For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares.
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
Death climbs through the windows and into the palaces, cutting off children and young men. No one is safe from the coming judgment.
Overview
Death is personified as an intruder that enters homes and palaces alike, striking down the young in streets and households. The imagery, possibly echoing how plague or invasion spares neither rich nor poor, conveys the inescapable reach of judgment. The verse underscores the universality of death as sin's wage, the very enemy Christ conquers in His resurrection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 6:11But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.
- 2 Chr 36:17So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
- Jer 15:7I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.
- Ezek 9:5–6And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!
- Ezek 21:14–15‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!
- Amos 6:10–11And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will answer. “Silence,” the relative will retort, “for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 9:21 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.