ירמיהו, פרק ט׳, פסוק כ״א

A devastating picture of destruction unfolds through vivid agricultural imagery, capturing the sheer scale of death and the deep humiliation of bodies left unburied. Human life is reduced to something entirely worthless within a ruined landscape.

The prophet is instructed to deliver this harsh reality directly to the people in the name of God [מצודת דוד, צאינה וראינה]. This is an explicit divine declaration [רד״ק] meant to force the people to face a difficult truth. The slaughter they are witnessing is not a random tragedy or the work of an independent enemy force. Rather, God Himself has decreed this fate and sent the destroyer [מלבי״ם].

To illustrate this horror, the human corpses [מצודת ציון] are compared to two distinct elements of the field. First, the dead will fall in massive numbers, scattered across the ground like common manure or garbage [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, צאינה וראינה]. Second, they are compared to sheaves of freshly cut grain [מצודת ציון, שטיינזלץ]. Just as a farmer cuts down the stalks, leaves the bundles behind, and moves on to the next row [מצודת דוד], so too will the people fall. However, while a normal harvest is gathered to sustain life, this brutal harvest leaves nothing but death in its wake [שטיינזלץ].

These two images blend together to highlight a deeply tragic fate. Normally, cut grain is carefully brought indoors, while manure is naturally left exposed on the earth. The fallen victims will suffer a double tragedy: they will be violently cut down by their enemies like harvested grain, yet they will be completely abandoned and forgotten like common dirt [מלבי״ם]. There will be no one left to gather these bodies for a proper burial [מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. The few who manage to survive the slaughter will be paralyzed by fear, too terrified to leave their hiding places to collect their dead [מצודת דוד].