Lamentations 2:21
New International Version
“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.

New Living Translation
“See them lying in the streets— young and old, boys and girls, killed by the swords of the enemy. You have killed them in your anger, slaughtering them without mercy.

English Standard Version
In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.

Berean Standard Bible
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.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
“Young and old lie On the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and not pitied.

New American Standard Bible
“On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have put them to death on the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, without sparing.

NASB 1995
On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing.

NASB 1977
On the ground in the streets Lie young and old, My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger, Thou hast slaughtered, not sparing.

Legacy Standard Bible
On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered, not sparing.

Amplified Bible
The young and the old Lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing.

Christian Standard Bible
Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without compassion.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young men and women have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger, slaughtering without compassion.

American Standard Version
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.

Contemporary English Version
My people, both young and old, lie dead in the streets. Because you were angry, my young men and women were brutally slaughtered.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Young and old lie on the ground in the streets. My young women and men are cut down by swords. You killed them on the day of your anger. You slaughtered them without any pity.

Good News Translation
Young and old alike lie dead in the streets, Young men and women, killed by enemy swords. You slaughtered them without mercy on the day of your anger.

International Standard Version
Young men and the aged lie on the ground in the streets; my young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them in your anger, slaughtering them without pity.

Majority Standard Bible
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.

NET Bible
The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy.

New Heart English Bible
The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, without pity.

Webster's Bible Translation
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

World English Bible
“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Lain on the earth [in] out-places have young and old, "" My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, "" You have slain in a day of Your anger, "" You have slaughtered—You have not pitied.

Young's Literal Translation
Lain on the earth in out-places have young and old, My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, Thou hast slain in a day of Thine anger, Thou hast slaughtered -- Thou hast not pitied.

Smith's Literal Translation
The youth and old man lay down upon the earth of the streets; my virgins and my young men fell by the sword; thou didst slay in the day of thine anger; thou didst slay, thou didst not pity.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.

Catholic Public Domain Version
SIN. The boy and the old man lie down on the ground outside. My virgins and my youths have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your fury. You have struck down, and you have not shown pity.

New American Bible
They lie on the ground in the streets, young and old alike; Both my young women and young men are cut down by the sword; You killed them on the day of your wrath, slaughtered without pity.

New Revised Standard Version
The young and the old are lying on the ground in the streets; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; in the day of your anger you have killed them, slaughtering without mercy.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast slaughtered without pity.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Shin Children and Elders sleep on the ground in the street. My virgins and my young men fell by the sword. You have killed in the day of your wrath! You have slaughtered and you showed no pity!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
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 unsparingly.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity: thou hast slain them with the sword and with famine; in the day of thy wrath thou hast mangled them, thou has not spared.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Anger over Jerusalem
20Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21Both 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. 22You summoned my attackers on every side, as for the day of an appointed feast. In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; my enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.…

Cross References
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.

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.

Ezekiel 9:6
Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

Isaiah 13:16
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.

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 15:8
I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.

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.

Hosea 13:16
Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Deuteronomy 32:25
Outside, 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.

2 Kings 8:12
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

Matthew 24:19
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!

Luke 19:44
They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Matthew 21:41
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at harvest time.”

Revelation 18:8
Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Revelation 18:21
Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.


Treasury of Scripture

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have killed, and not pitied.

young

Deuteronomy 28:50
A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

Joshua 6:21
And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

1 Samuel 15:3
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

my virgins

Lamentations 1:15,18
The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress…

Psalm 78:63
The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

Jeremiah 9:21
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.

thou hast killed

Lamentations 2:2,17
The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof…

Lamentations 3:43
Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.

Isaiah 27:11
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

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Anger Causing Child Death Dust Earth Fallen Ground Killed Lie Maidens Mercy Out-Places Pitied Pity Slain Slaughtered Slaughtering Spared Sparing Streets Stretched Sword Together Unsparingly Virgins Wrath Young Youth
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Anger Causing Child Death Dust Earth Fallen Ground Killed Lie Maidens Mercy Out-Places Pitied Pity Slain Slaughtered Slaughtering Spared Sparing Streets Stretched Sword Together Unsparingly Virgins Wrath Young Youth
Lamentations 2
1. Jeremiah laments the misery of Jerusalem
20. He complains thereof to God














Young and old
This phrase highlights the indiscriminate nature of the calamity that has befallen Jerusalem. In the Hebrew text, "young" (בַּחוּרִים, bachurim) and "old" (זְקֵנִים, zekenim) emphasize the totality of the destruction, affecting all age groups. Historically, this reflects the Babylonian siege where no demographic was spared, underscoring the severity of God's judgment.

lie together in the dust of the streets
The imagery of lying in the dust signifies death and humiliation. "Dust" (עָפָר, afar) in Hebrew often symbolizes mortality and the return to the earth (Genesis 3:19). The streets, once bustling with life, now serve as a graveyard, illustrating the complete desolation and the reversal of life’s order due to divine judgment.

my young men and maidens
This phrase points to the loss of the future generation, the hope and strength of the community. "Young men" (בַּחוּרִים, bachurim) and "maidens" (בְּתוּלוֹת, betulot) represent vitality and potential. Their fall signifies not just a physical loss but a spiritual and cultural devastation, as the bearers of future promise are cut down.

have fallen by the sword
The sword (חֶרֶב, cherev) is a common biblical symbol of war and divine retribution. This phrase indicates a violent death, a direct consequence of the Babylonian invasion. It serves as a reminder of the covenantal curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28, where disobedience leads to such calamities.

You have slain them in the day of Your anger
This phrase attributes the destruction directly to God’s righteous indignation. "Slain" (הָרַג, harag) and "anger" (אַף, aph) reflect the divine response to persistent sin and rebellion. The "day of Your anger" suggests a specific, appointed time of judgment, emphasizing God’s sovereignty and justice.

You have slaughtered them without compassion
The word "slaughtered" (טָבַח, tabach) conveys a sense of complete and utter destruction. "Without compassion" (לֹא חָמַלְתָּ, lo chamalta) highlights the severity of the judgment, where divine mercy is withheld. This absence of compassion underscores the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God, who cannot tolerate iniquity indefinitely.

(21) The young and the old . . .--The thoughts of the mourner turn from the massacre in the sanctuary to the slaughter which did its dread work in every corner of the city.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Both young
נַ֣עַר (na·‘ar)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

and old
וְזָקֵ֔ן (wə·zā·qên)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2205: Old

lie together
שָׁכְב֨וּ (šā·ḵə·ḇū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 7901: To lie down

in the dust
לָאָ֤רֶץ (lā·’ā·reṣ)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of the streets.
חוּצוֹת֙ (ḥū·ṣō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2351: Separate by a, wall, outside, outdoors

My young men
וּבַחוּרַ֖י (ū·ḇa·ḥū·ray)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 970: Selected, a youth

and maidens
בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י (bə·ṯū·lō·ṯay)
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1330: A virgin, sometimes, a bride

have fallen
נָפְל֣וּ (nā·p̄ə·lū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

by the sword.
בֶחָ֑רֶב (ḇe·ḥā·reḇ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

You have slain [them]
הָרַ֙גְתָּ֙ (hā·raḡ·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2026: To smite with deadly intent

in the day
בְּי֣וֹם (bə·yō·wm)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3117: A day

of Your anger;
אַפֶּ֔ךָ (’ap·pe·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 639: The nose, nostril, the face, a person, ire

You have slaughtered [them]
טָבַ֖חְתָּ (ṭā·ḇaḥ·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2873: To slaughter, butcher, slay

without
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

compassion.
חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ (ḥā·mā·lə·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2550: To commiserate, to spare


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 2:21 The youth and the old man lie (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 2:20
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