Jeremiah 9:21

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in ¹  through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

Jeremiah 18:21

18:21 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.

Revelation 16:1

The Bowls of God’s Wrath

16:1 Then ⁴  I heard a loud voice from the temple declaring to the seven angels: “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.” ⁵ 

[9:21]  ¹ sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.

[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.

[16:1]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[16:1]  ⁵ tn Or “anger.” Here τοῦ θυμοῦ (tou qumou) has been translated as a genitive of content.