Lamentations 2:21
in Lamentations 2Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast slaughtered, and not pitied.
KJV
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
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This verse in Lamentations 2
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe young and the old lie on the ground in the streets,.... Young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex.
This site's exposition
Look, O LORD, and consider
on Lamentations 2:20-22
The hardest of the chapter's questions to the LORD, “Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured?”, names the siege's worst horror plainly. Moses warned of this curse in Deuteronomy 28:53. The chapter closes on “the day of the LORD’s anger”, when no one escaped.
This site's exposition
Both young and old lie together
John Gill reads the dead in the streets as young men and old, virgins and aged women, killed by hunger or the Chaldean sword. The words without compassion answer the without pity of Lamentations 2:2 and 2:17, the same Hebrew verb. The day of Your anger recalls Lamentations 2:1.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is proclaimed a universality of punishment. About this three more views are advanced. First is viewed common punishment for everyone. As said: "in the dust of the streets", That is, the dead: "the young and the old," Namely, the strong ones, inside and outside …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the L ORD .
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:95%@v9
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Omit “them” and “and,” which weaken the intensity of the passage.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׁכְב֨וּ | shakhevu | they have lain down | H7901 → | |
| לָאָ֤רֶץ | laaretz | to the ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
| חוּצוֹת֙ | chutzot | streets | H2351 → | 164 times |
| נַ֣עַר | naar | youth | H5288 → | |
| וְזָקֵ֔ן | vezaken | and old [person] | H2205 → | 178 times |
| בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י | betulotai | young women my | H1330 → | 50 times |
| וּבַחוּרַ֖י | uvachurai | and young men my | H970 → | 44 times |
| נָפְל֣וּ | nafelu | they have fallen | H5307 → | 435 times |
| בֶחָ֑רֶב | vecharev | by the sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| הָרַ֙גְתָּ֙ | haragta | you have killed | H2026 → | 167 times |
| בְּי֣וֹם | beyom | in [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אַפֶּ֔ךָ | ʾapekha | anger your | H639 → | 276 times |
| טָבַ֖חְתָּ | tavachta | you have slaughtered | H2873 → | |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ ס | chamalta | you have spared | H2550 → | 41 times |
שָׁכְב֨וּthey have lain down
shakhevuH7901 →
לָאָ֤רֶץto the ground
laaretzH776 →2504 times
חוּצוֹת֙streets
chutzotH2351 →164 times
נַ֣עַרyouth
naarH5288 →
וְזָקֵ֔ןand old [person]
vezakenH2205 →178 times
בְּתוּלֹתַ֥יyoung women my
betulotaiH1330 →50 times
וּבַחוּרַ֖יand young men my
uvachuraiH970 →44 times
נָפְל֣וּthey have fallen
nafeluH5307 →435 times
בֶחָ֑רֶבby the sword
vecharevH2719 →413 times
הָרַ֙גְתָּ֙you have killed
haragtaH2026 →167 times
בְּי֣וֹםin [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
אַפֶּ֔ךָanger your
ʾapekhaH639 →276 times
טָבַ֖חְתָּyou have slaughtered
tavachtaH2873 →
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ סyou have spared
chamaltaH2550 →41 times
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
Zechariah 11:6For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 13:14
I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
- Isaiah 9:19–21
By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.
- Matthew 22:7
The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
- Hebrews 10:26–31
If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
- Micah 5:8
Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which…
- Jeremiah 13:14
Through
Jeremiah 13:14I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
- Deuteronomy 29:20
Through
Lamentations 3:43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:17
The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and…
- Lamentations 2:17
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
- 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…
- Ezra 9:7
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.