'Sword' in the Bible

“In vain I have struck your sons;They accepted no chastening.Your sword has devoured your prophetsLike a destroying lion.

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”

They have lied about the LordAnd said, “Not He;Misfortune will not come on us,And we will not see sword or famine.

“They will devour your harvest and your food;They will devour your sons and your daughters;They will devour your flocks and your herds;They will devour your vines and your fig trees;They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

Do not go out into the fieldAnd do not walk on the road,For the enemy has a sword,Terror is on every side.

I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.”

therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine;

“On all the bare heights in the wildernessDestroyers have come,For a sword of the Lord is devouringFrom one end of the land even to the other;There is no peace for anyone.

When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.”

But, “Ah, Lord God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!

The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will pour out their own wickedness on them.

‘If I go out to the country,Behold, those slain with the sword!Or if I enter the city,Behold, diseases of famine!For both prophet and priestHave gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’”

And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:“Those destined for death, to death;And those destined for the sword, to the sword;And those destined for famine, to famine;And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

“She who bore seven sons pines away;Her breathing is labored.Her sun has set while it was yet day;She has been shamed and humiliated.So I will give over their survivors to the swordBefore their enemies,” declares the Lord.

“They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.”

Therefore, give their children over to famineAnd deliver them up to the power of the sword;And let their wives become childless and widowed.Let their men also be smitten to death,Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.

Then afterwards,” declares the Lord, “I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”’

He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.

I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”

They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’

For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of hosts.’

‘A clamor has come to the end of the earth,Because the Lord has a controversy with the nations.He is entering into judgment with all flesh;As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”

“He has left His hiding place like the lion;For their land has become a horrorBecause of the fierceness of the oppressing swordAnd because of His fierce anger.”

And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with a sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

“It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.

Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.

I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

Thus says the Lord,“The people who survived the swordFound grace in the wilderness—Israel, when it went to find its rest.”

Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it.

“Now therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.’

For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword,

Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword.

“Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay alive.’

For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’”

Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and put to death the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

then the sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.

So all the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the place where you wish to go to reside.

He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword.

And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach.

And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence.

But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine.”

Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they are completely gone.

Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs.

For that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts,A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;And the sword will devour and be satiatedAnd drink its fill of their blood;For there will be a slaughter for the Lord God of hosts,In the land of the north by the river Euphrates.

“Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol,Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes;Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,For the sword has devoured those around you.’

“They have repeatedly stumbled;Indeed, they have fallen one against another.Then they said, ‘Get up! And let us go backTo our own people and our native landAway from the sword of the oppressor.’

“Ah, sword of the Lord,How long will you not be quiet?Withdraw into your sheath;Be at rest and stay still.

“There is praise for Moab no longer;In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’You too, Madmen, will be silenced;The sword will follow after you.

“Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently,And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.

‘So I will shatter Elam before their enemiesAnd before those who seek their lives;And I will bring calamity upon them,Even My fierce anger,’ declares the Lord,‘And I will send out the sword after themUntil I have consumed them.

“Cut off the sower from BabylonAnd the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;From before the sword of the oppressorThey will each turn back to his own peopleAnd they will each flee to his own land.

Put all her young bulls to the sword;Let them go down to the slaughter!Woe be upon them, for their day has come,The time of their punishment.

“A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,“And against the inhabitants of BabylonAnd against her officials and her wise men!

“A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become fools!A sword against her mighty men, and they will be shattered!

“A sword against their horses and against their chariotsAnd against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her,And they will become women!A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

You who have escaped the sword,Depart! Do not stay!Remember the Lord from afar,And let Jerusalem come to your mind.