Jeremiah 9:21

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah speaks on behalf of the LORD to the women of Judah, commanding them to teach lamentation as judgment penetrates the nation's most secure domestic spaces.

The words — מָוֶת (ma.vet) means "death," and לְהַכְרִית (le./hakh.Rit) means "to cut off," describing how the invading force breaches windows and fortresses to eliminate children and young men.

The thread — The theme of judgment reaching children in public spaces runs into Jeremiah 6:11, while the scattering and unburied destruction of the people continues in Jeremiah 15:7.

Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that no social status or fortified location provides immunity from divine judgment, requiring readers to confront the reality of unmitigated consequences.

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

כִּֽי־ki-for עָ֤לָה'A.lahit has come up מָ֙וֶת֙ma.vetdeath בְּחַלּוֹנֵ֔ינוּbe./cha.lo.Nei./nuin/ windows/ our בָּ֖אba'it has come בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֵ֑ינוּbe./'ar.me.no.Tei./nuin/ fortresses/ our לְהַכְרִ֤יתle./hakh.Ritto/ cut off עוֹלָל֙o.Lalchild[ren]מִח֔וּץmi./Chutzfrom/ [the] street בַּחוּרִ֖יםba.chu.Rimyoung men מֵרְחֹבֽוֹת׃me./re.cho.Votfrom/ [the] open places

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 6:11 But 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 Chronicles 36:17 So 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,
Jeremiah 15:7 I 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.
Ezekiel 9:5 And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!
Ezekiel 21:14 ‘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 And 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.”