Bible Strands
Isaiah 3:25
Your men will fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah delivers this declaration from God to Jerusalem and Judah during a period of national collapse and social inversion. The message addresses the immediate military and social consequences of the nation's rebellion.
The words — יִפֹּ֑לוּ (yi.Po.lu) translates literally as "they will fall," while בַּ/חֶ֣רֶב (ba./Che.rev) means "by the sword." These terms anchor the verse's concrete prediction of violent death.
The thread — This theme of martial defeat recurs in 2 Chronicles 29:9, Isaiah 1:20, and Jeremiah 11:22. Each reference links national rebellion to the literal consequence of falling by the sword.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that rebellion produces inevitable, physical destruction. It leaves no room for evasion, stating plainly that military strength will be exhausted and warriors will die.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 29:9 For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity.
- Isaiah 1:20 But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- Jeremiah 11:22 So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.
- 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 they do not know.’”
- Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
- Jeremiah 19:7 And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
- Jeremiah 21:9 Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.
- Lamentations 2:21 Both 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.
- Amos 9:10 All the sinners among My people will die by the sword—all those who say, ‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”