Psalm 21:10
“Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.”
KJV
Read in Psalm 21Meaning
The destruction of enemy offspring is one of the psalm’s hardest royal-war lines; it must be read as ancient judgment rhetoric and never used to justify collective punishment, harm to children, or hereditary guilt.
God’s judgment on hostile enemies
Verses 8–12 turn toward enemies, using severe ancient royal-war imagery of discovery, fire, destroyed posterity, failed plots, and enemies driven back.
Read carefully
The destruction of enemy offspring is one of the psalm’s hardest royal-war lines; it must be read as ancient judgment rhetoric and never used to justify collective punishment, harm to children, or hereditary guilt. Keep the verse inside its literary unit.
Reflection
The destruction of enemy offspring is one of the psalm’s hardest royal-war lines; it must be read as ancient judgment rhetoric and never used to justify collective punishment, harm to children, or hereditary guilt.