Exodus 22:24
Context22:24 and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless. 1
Jeremiah 18:21
Context18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 2
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 3
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
Hosea 14:3
Context14:3 Assyria cannot save us;
we will not ride warhorses.
We will never again say, ‘Our gods’
to what our own hands have made.
For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!” 4
[22:24] 1 sn The punishment will follow the form of talionic justice, an eye for an eye, in which the punishment matches the crime. God will use invading armies (“sword” is a metonymy of adjunct here) to destroy them, making their wives widows and their children orphans.
[18:21] 2 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
[18:21] 3 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
[14:3] 4 tn Heb “For the orphan is shown compassion by you.” The present translation takes “orphan” as a figurative reference to Israel, which is specified in the translation for clarity.