Deuteronomy 32:25
in Deuteronomy 32Outside, 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Without shall the sword bereave, And in the chambers terror; It shall destroy both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
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.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
They will be wasted from hunger
on Deuteronomy 32:24-25
The list runs through famine, fever, wild beasts and serpents, which is close to the covenant curse of Leviticus 26:22 and 26:25. Verse 25 names four ages in a single line, the young man, the virgin, the suckling and the man of gray hairs, so nobody stands outside the sentence. Lamentations 1:20 describes Jerusalem in the same two halves, the sword abroad and death at home.
This site's exposition
Outside, the sword will take their children
Ezekiel 7:15 repeats this division of the sword outside and terror inside for the fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 9:21 pictures death climbing through the windows to take children from the streets. Neither the field nor the house offers cover.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The sword without,....
A promise of the destruction of their enemies and oppressors at last, and the glorious deliverance of a remnant of Israel,
When the sword is without, there cannot but be terror within. 5 , Without were fightings, within were fears. Those who cast off the fear of God are justly exposed to the fear of enemies. [2.] Universal deaths.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִחוּץ֙ | michutz | from outside | H2351 → | 164 times |
| תְּשַׁכֶּל־ | teshakel- | it will make childless | H7921 → | |
| חֶ֔רֶב | cherev | a sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| וּמֵחֲדָרִ֖ים | umechadarim | and [will be] from inner rooms | H2315 → | |
| אֵימָ֑ה | ʾeimah | terror | H367 → | |
| גַּם־ | gam- | both | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בָּחוּר֙ | bachur | young man | H970 → | |
| גַּם־ | gam- | as well as | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בְּתוּלָ֔ה | betulah | young woman | H1330 → | 50 times |
| יוֹנֵ֖ק | yonek | a suckling-child | H3243 → | 33 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אִ֥ישׁ | ʾish | a person of | H376 → | 1663 times |
| שֵׂיבָֽה׃ | seivah | gray hair | H7872 → |
מִחוּץ֙from outside
michutzH2351 →164 times
תְּשַׁכֶּל־it will make childless
teshakel-H7921 →
חֶ֔רֶבa sword
cherevH2719 →413 times
וּמֵחֲדָרִ֖יםand [will be] from inner rooms
umechadarimH2315 →
אֵימָ֑הterror
ʾeimahH367 →
גַּם־both
gam-H1571 →769 times
בָּחוּר֙young man
bachurH970 →
גַּם־as well as
gam-H1571 →769 times
בְּתוּלָ֔הyoung woman
betulahH1330 →50 times
יוֹנֵ֖קa suckling-child
yonekH3243 →33 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אִ֥ישׁa person of
ʾishH376 →1663 times
שֵׂיבָֽה׃gray hair
seivahH7872 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Lamentations 4:4The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:15
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 22:15
Through
Ezekiel 7:15The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…
- Jeremiah 14:18
If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land…
- Lamentations 1:20
See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
- Ezekiel 5:12
Through
Lamentations 1:20See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:11
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of…
- Lamentations 2:11
Through
Isaiah 30:16“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.
it leads to
- Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy…
- Isaiah 31:1
Through
2 Chronicles 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…
it leads to
- Psalms 74:20
Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
- Ezra 9:7
From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of…
- Psalms 74:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
