Job 5:20, Jer 18:21 | JFB | STEP | 20. power — ( ). Hebrew, "hands." of the sword — ( , Margin ). Hands are given to the sword personified as a living agent.

Job 5:20

20. power— (Jer 5:12). Hebrew, "hands."

of the sword— (Eze 35:5, Margin). Hands are given to the sword personified as a living agent.

Jeremiah 18:21

21. pour out their blood by the force of the sword—literally, "by the hands of the sword." So Eze 35:5. MAURER with JEROME translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But compare Ps 63:10, Margin; Isa 53:12. In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he doubtless ceased not to intercede. We are not to draw an example from this, which is a special case.

put to death—or, as in Jer 15:2, "perish by the death plague" [MAURER].

men . . . young men—HORSLEY distinguishes the former as married men past middle age; the latter, the flower of unmarried youth.