For he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, he had no compassion on young man, or maiden, old man or even him that stooped for age, but he delivered them all into his hands.

“And He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans who were a lowly nation, as it is said (Isa. 23:13): “Behold the land of the Chaldees, this people has never been,” and here was fulfilled (Deut. 32:21): “They provoked Me with a non-god, etc....I will provoke them to anger with a vile nation.” and he slew their young men by the sword in their Temple and their recompense was requited them, as is written above (verse 14): “and they defiled the House of the Lord,” and that which He said was fulfilled, (Ezek. 9:5ff.): “’and smite, let not your eye spare, etc....and go out,’ and they went out and smote in the city.” and he had pity neither on youth nor virgin, elder nor ancient one unlike the custom of soldiers, who, when they are victorious in war, slay the combatants, but pity the elders, the youths, and the virgins, and are filled with compassion for them, and Moses’ prophecy was fulfilled (Deut. 32:25): “The sword will bereave from outside and terror from within, youth, etc.””

“When the moral corruption had reached this height, judgment broke upon the incorrigible race. As in Ch2 36:12-16 the transgressions of the king and people are not described according to their historical progression, but are portrayed in rhetorical gradation; so, too, in Ch2 36:17-21 the judgment upon the sinful people and kingdom is not represented in its historical details, but only rhetorically in its great general outlines. "Then brought He upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in their sanctuary, and spared not the youth and the maiden, the old man and the grey-headed; he gave everything into his hand." Prophetic utterances form the basis of this description of the fearful judgment, e.g., Jer 15:1-9; Jer 32:3., Eze 9:6; and these, again, rest upon Deu 32:25. The subject in the first and last clause of the verse is Jahve. Bertheau therefore assumes that He is also the subject of the intermediate sentence: "and God slew their young men in the sanctuary;" but this can hardly be correct. As in the expansion of the last clause, "he gave everything into his hand," which follows in Ch2 36:18, not Jahve but the king of Babylon is the subject; so also in the expansion of the first clause, which וגו ויּהרג introduces, the king of the Chaldeans is the subject, as most commentators have rightly recognised. By מקדּשׁם בּבית the judgment is brought into definite relationship to the crime: because they had profaned the sanctuary by idolatry (Ch2 36:14), they themselves were slain in the sanctuary. On נתן ב הכּל, cf. Jer 27:6; Jer 32:3-4. הכּל includes things and persons, and is specialized in Ch2 36:18-20.”