Deuteronomy 32:25

Deu 32:25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs.

Ver. 25. And terror within.] Warring times are terrible times. By the civil dissensions here in King John’s time, all the kingdom became like a general shambles, or place of infernal terrors and tortures. War, saith one, is a misery which all words, how wide soever, want compass to express. It is, saith another, the slaughter house of mankind, and the hell of this present world. {See Trapp on "Gen 14:2"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They shall be slain both in the field and at home.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

25. War the climax to these natural plagues, just as in Amos 7.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I said,.... Or could have said, or might have said; that is, determined and resolved, as it was in his power, and in right and justice might have done what follows:

I would scatter them into corners; which does not fitly express the sense of the word used, and besides this was what was done; it is notorious that the Jews were and are scattered into the several corners of the world, and there is no corner where they are not; whereas the phrase is expressive of something that could and might have been done, but was not: moreover, to disperse them into the several parts of the world does not agree with what follows; for that, instead of making their remembrance to cease, would make them the more known, and the more to be remembered. But the word literally taken may be rendered, "I will corner them" (f); drive them up into a corner, and cut them off together, or search for them in, and ferret them out of, every corner in which they should get, and destroy them all: agreeably to which is the Targum of Onkelos,"mine anger shall rest upon them, and I will destroy them;''and so Aben Ezra interprets it of the destruction of them, and observes, that otherwise it would not agree with what follows. There may be an allusion in it to the corner of the field, which was ordered to be left to the poor, and not reaped, Lev 19:9; and so the sense is, I could and might have determined when the harvest of this land and people was come, or the time of wrath upon them, to cut down every corner, and leave none, no, not one standing stalk of corn, but make clean riddance of them:

I would make the remembrance of them cease from among men; as of the Amalekites, Moabites, Midianites, Edomites, Chaldeans, and others, whose names as well as nations are no more. This is what the enemies of the Jews plotted and conspired to do, Psa 83:4; and what God could and might have done, but has not; the Jews continue to this day a distinct people, though it is now near 1900 years since the destruction of their city and temple, and their dispersion in the various parts of the world; which is what was never known of any other people in the like circumstances, and which is a most amazing and surprising event; the reasons of it follow.

(f) "angulabo illos", Oleaster, Vitringa; "ad angulos usque quaeram ipsos, seu ad verbum, angulabo ipsos", Van Till; "ab angulo succidam ipsos", Cocceius. Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 661.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

General Information:

Moses speaks a poetic song to the people of Israel. He continues to quote Yahweh's words. (See: Parallelism)

Outside the sword will bereave

Here "sword" represents the army of the enemy. AT: "When the Israelites are outside, the enemy army will kill them" (See: Metonymy)

terror will do so

Yahweh speaks of being afraid as if it were a person who comes into a house and kills those who live in it. AT: "you will die because you are afraid" (See: Personification)

young man and virgin, the nursing baby, and the man of gray hairs

These terms describing people of different ages are combined to mean that all kinds of people will die. (See: Merism)

I said that I would ... away, that I would ... mankind.

This can be translated as a direct quote. AT: "I said, 'I will ... away, and I will ... mankind.'" (See: Direct and Indirect Quotations)

I would make the memory of them to cease from among mankind

"I would make all people forget about them"

translationWords

sword

terror

virgin

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

מחוץ תשכל חרב WITHOUT, THE SWORD SHALL BEREAVE — This means, outside the city will the sword of the hostile troops bereave them,

ומחדרים אימה AND WITHIN, DREAD — when one flees and escapes, the recesses (חדרים) of his heart will vehemently beat out of dread, and he will gradually die through this (Sifrei Devarim 321:11). — Another explanation of ומחדרים אימה: In the house there will be the fear of pestilence, as it says, (Jeremiah 9:20) “For the death is come up into our windows" (cf. Bava Kamma 60b). So, too, did Onkelos translate it. — Another explanation of this verse: מחוץ תשכל חרב — the sword shall destroy them on account of what they have done in the streets (חוצה; the prefix מ denotes the cause: on account of the streets), as it is said, (Jeremiah 11:13) “According to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing” (Sifrei Devarim 321:12); ומחדרים אימה — on account of what they have done in the innermost chambers of their houses, as it is said, (Ezekiel 8:12) “[Have you seen] what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his marbled chambers?” (Sifrei Devarim 321:12)

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.