Curses for Disobedience
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
Deu.28.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- תשמע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בקול: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- לשמר: VERB,qal,inf
- לעשות: VERB,qal,inf
- את: PRT,acc
- כל: DET
- מצותיו: NOUN,f,pl,abs,poss:3,m,sg
- וחקתיו: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,3,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- מצוך: VERB,piel,part,1,sg,obj:2,m,sg
- היום: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ובאו: VERB,qal,imp,2,mp
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- כל: DET
- הקללות: NOUN,f,pl,def
- האלה: DEM,pl
- והשיגוך: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl+OBJ,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:14 (verbal): Uses the same conditional formula—'if ye will not hearken unto me'—and announces covenant curses for disobedience, closely mirroring Deut 28:15's language and theme.
- Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (structural): The immediate literary counterpart: blessings promised for obedience (vv.1–14) set up a chiastic structure with v.15 initiating the catalogue of curses for failing to keep the covenant.
- Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (thematic): Presents the choice between life/blessing and death/cursing; like Deut 28:15 it frames obedience as the condition for blessing and disobedience as the cause of curse and exile.
- Jeremiah 11:3-5 (allusion): Echoes the covenant summons and warning—'hear ye the words of this covenant…if ye will not hearken'—applying the Deuteronomic conditional to Judah and warning of judgment for covenant breach.
Alternative generated candidates
- And it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep and to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
- But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God to observe and to do all his commandments and statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
Deu.28.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ארור: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בעיר: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וארור: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בשדה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut.28.19 (structural): Part of the same curse-speech in chapter 28; both verses belong to the catalogue of comprehensive household and social curses that befall Israel for disobedience.
- Deut.28.20 (thematic): Continues and explains the origin and scope of the curses pronounced in v.16—God will send curses, sickness and confusion upon the people, linking divine judgment to the city/field curse motif.
- Deut.27.26 (verbal): Uses the same curse-formula (Heb. 'arur' ארור) and the legal-ritual pattern of pronouncing curses on covenant transgressors; v.16 is one instance of that broader juridical rhetoric.
- Leviticus 26:31–33 (thematic): Leviticus lists parallel covenantal punishments (desolation of cities, scattering among the nations) that mirror Deut.28’s threat of ruin in both urban and rural settings.
- Micah 3:12 (allusion): Uses the image of Zion/ Jerusalem overturned and plowed like a field—similar catastrophic transformation of city and land invoked by Deut.28:16’s city/field curse.
Alternative generated candidates
- Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
- Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
Deu.28.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ארור: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- טנאך: NOUN,f,sg,suff-2ms
- ומשארתך: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,suff-2ms
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:26 (verbal): Both passages depict Yahweh's judgment as an attack on food provisions; Leviticus explicitly speaks of breaking the staff of bread and women baking and returning bread in a basket—language close to Deut 28:17's curse on the basket and kneading trough.
- Deuteronomy 28:20 (structural): Nearby verse in the same covenant-suitcase of curses: it frames the specific domestic curses (like the basket and kneading-trough) within the broader promise that the LORD will send curses on the obedient nation's disobedience.
- Deuteronomy 27:15 (verbal): Uses the same covenantal curse formula ('ארור' / 'Cursed be…'), showing the recurring liturgical/legal pattern of pronouncing curses for covenant breach that Deut 28:17 exemplifies.
- Amos 8:1–2 (allusion): Uses a basket of summer fruit as a prophetic sign announcing imminent judgment on Israel; the shared 'basket' imagery links private household containers to national judgment themes.
Alternative generated candidates
- Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
- Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading‑trough.
Deu.28.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ארור: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- פרי: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- בטנך: NOUN,m,sg,sfx
- ופרי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אדמתך: NOUN,f,sg,sfx
- שגר: NOUN,m,sg,const
- אלפיך: NOUN,m,pl,sfx
- ועשתרות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- צאנך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:16 (structural): Verse 18 is part of the longer covenant-curses section that begins in 28:16; the list structure places the curse on offspring and produce within the same catalogue of penalties.
- Deuteronomy 28:20-24 (thematic): These verses continue the covenant curses affecting sky, land and crops (drought, blight, failure of produce), echoing the threat against the fruit of the ground and increase of livestock.
- Leviticus 26:16-20 (thematic): Leviticus sets out covenantal penalties for disobedience that include land failure and sowing in vain—parallel themes of agricultural failure and divine judgment on offspring/produce.
- Exodus 23:25-26 (thematic): A complementary/contrasting passage: as Deut. 28:18 pronounces curses on fertility and produce for disobedience, Exodus promises blessing—no barrenness and sustained offspring and crops—for faithful service to Yahweh.
Alternative generated candidates
- Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock.
- Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land, the increase of your herds and the young of your flocks.
Deu.28.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ארור: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בבאך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- וארור: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בצאתך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28.3 (verbal): Direct verbal/structural antithesis — the blessing formula uses the identical city/field pair ('blessed... in the city and... in the field'), which Deut 28:19 inverts into a curse.
- Lev.26:14-39 (structural): Parallel covenant curse section: a systematic sequence of punishments for disobedience that functions like Deut 28’s catalogue of curses (including exile, calamity and failure whether in town or country).
- Deut.27:15-26 (thematic): Earlier Deuteronomic list of communal curses pronounced on Mount Ebal — shares the same covenantal framework of conditional blessings/curses and public pronouncement of punishments for transgression.
- 1 Kings 8:35 (allusion): Solomon’s temple-prayer echoes the Deuteronomic pattern of consequences (famine, plague, defeat) that befall the people when they disobey, reflecting the same covenant curse logic as Deut 28:19.
- Gal.3:10 (allusion): Paul cites the Deuteronomic curse tradition ('cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law'), invoking the same covenantal-threat motif behind Deut 28’s curses.
Alternative generated candidates
- Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
- Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
Deu.28.20 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ישלח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- המארה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- את: PRT,acc
- המהומה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ואת: CONJ
- המגערת: NOUN,f,sg,def
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- משלח: VERB,piel,part,3,m,sg
- ידך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss:2,f,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תעשה: VERB,qal,imf,2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- השמדך: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
- ועד: CONJ+PREP
- אבדך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+prn:2,m,sg
- מהר: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- מפני: PREP
- רע: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- מעלליך: PREP,2,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- עזבתני: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg+obj:1,sg
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:16-17 (thematic): Part of the covenant curses: God warns that disobedience will bring his hostility and death before enemies—paralleling the threat of destruction and perishing in Deut 28:20.
- Leviticus 26:25 (verbal): Lists specific punishments (sword, pestilence, hunger) that God will send for covenant breach, echoing Deut 28:20's language of sending calamity and annihilation.
- Deuteronomy 28:21-22 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same curse-unit: enumerates illnesses and disasters God will send, closely linked in form and function to v.20.
- 2 Chronicles 7:19-20 (thematic): Solomonic warning: if the king/people turn away God will cut them off and reject the temple—a royal/temple parallel of covenantal removal and destruction.
- Psalm 78:49 (thematic): Describes God unleashing his fierce anger and plague on Israel for their sins—thematising divine sent calamity as punishment like Deut 28:20.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will send on you curses, panic, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until he has destroyed you and brought you to ruin because of the evil of your deeds in forsaking me.
- The LORD will send on you curse, confusion and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, for you have forsaken me.
Deu.28.21 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ידבק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- הדבר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- עד: PREP
- כלתו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- אתך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- מעל: PREP
- האדמה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- שמה: ADV
- לרשתה: INF,qal,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28.22 (verbal): Immediate continuation in the same curse-section; specifies the kinds of afflictions (fever, inflammation, drought, blight) that follow the plague that 'clings' until destruction.
- Deut.28.27 (verbal): Another verse within the Deuteronomic curse formula listing bodily plagues (boils, tumors, scab, itch) sent by YHWH — a close verbal and thematic parallel emphasizing disease as divine punishment.
- Deut.28.60–61 (structural): Returns to the broad covenant curse motif: God will bring 'all the diseases' and persistent plagues upon the people until they perish from the land, echoing the idea of a plague that clings until destruction.
- Lev.26.16–21 (thematic): In the Levitical covenant curses God warns of escalating punishments (terror, pestilence, famine, defeat) for disobedience — a parallel covenantal framework where disease and ruin are instruments of divine judgment.
- Ezek.14.21 (thematic): Prophetic summary of God sending 'four sore judgments' including pestilence to cut off man and beast — echoes the theme of God sending plague/pestilence as a means to consume a people from the land.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to possess.
- The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to possess.
Deu.28.22 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יככה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בשחפת: PREP,NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובקדחת: CONJ+PREP,NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובדלקת: CONJ+PREP,NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובחרחר: CONJ+PREP,NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובחרב: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובשדפון: CONJ+PREP,NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובירקון: CONJ+PREP,NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ורדפוך: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,pl,suff:2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- אבדך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,suff:2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:27 (verbal): Same chapter's curse list: specific bodily ailments (boils, tumors, scab, itch) parallel the catalogue of diseases and divine afflictions in 28:22.
- Deuteronomy 28:60 (thematic): Summarizes the disease theme: God will bring 'all the diseases of Egypt' upon the disobedient—echoes the punitive illnesses named in 28:22.
- Leviticus 26:25-26 (structural): Part of the covenant curse tradition: God promises sword, famine and pestilence against disobedience, structurally parallel to Deut 28's list of divine punishments including sickness and the sword.
- Ezekiel 14:21 (thematic): Prophetic summary of divine judgments—'the sword, the famine, and the noisome pestilence'—closely mirrors Deut 28:22's coupling of disease and violent calamity as instruments of judgment.
- Psalm 91:3 (thematic): Speaks of rescue 'from the noisome pestilence'—a thematic contrast to Deut 28:22's pronouncement of pestilence as punishment, highlighting the motif of pestilence in biblical theology.
Alternative generated candidates
- He will strike you with consumption, with fever, inflammation, burning, the sword, wasting, and with pestilence; and they shall pursue you until you perish.
- The LORD will strike you with consumption, fever, inflammation, severe burning, sword, blasting and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
Deu.28.23 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- שמיך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+suff-2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- על: PREP
- ראשך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,2,m
- נחשת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- והארץ: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תחתיך: PREP,suff-2ms
- ברזל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:19–20 (verbal): Uses essentially the same curse-imagery—God makes the heavens like brass and the earth like iron as part of the penalty for disobedience (close verbal parallel in the covenant curse formula).
- Deuteronomy 11:16–17 (structural): An earlier Deuteronomic warning that if Israel turns to other gods the Lord will 'shut up the heavens' and withhold rain; part of the same covenantal structure of blessings and curses that culminates in Deut 28.23.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13–14 (thematic): Describes God shutting up the heavens and bringing famine/pestilence as a response to sin—a later historical/theological echo of the motif of withheld rain and cosmic disorder as punishment.
- Amos 4:7–8 (thematic): A prophetic example of God withholding or giving rain selectively as discipline for Israel's sins, illustrating the same consequence (drought/withheld rain) implied by the 'heavens like brass' imagery.
Alternative generated candidates
- Your heavens above your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
- Your heavens above your head shall be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
Deu.28.24 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יתן: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- מטר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ארצך: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אבק: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ועפר: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מן: PREP
- השמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ירד: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- עד: PREP
- השמדך: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.11:17 (verbal): Promises that if Israel provokes the LORD he will 'shut up the heavens, that there be no rain,' closely paralleling Deut 28:24's motif of withheld or perverted rain as judgment.
- Lev.26:19-20 (thematic): Part of the covenant curses: God will 'make your heaven like iron and your earth like brass,' a related image of cessation/impairment of rain and agricultural ruin as punishment.
- 1 Kings 8:35-36 (verbal): Solomon's temple-prayer envisions the same scenario—'when heaven is shut up and there is no rain'—linking drought with divine anger and communal sin.
- Amos 4:7 (thematic): Amos explicitly portrays withholding or distorting rain as an act of divine judgment ('I withheld rain from you...'), echoing Deut 28:24's theme of punishment through ruined precipitation.
- Jer.14:1-6 (thematic): Jeremiah's lament about drought, failing wells, and parched land presents the prophetic outworking of covenant curses—divine-induced desolation of the land like that described in Deut 28:24.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will turn the rain of your land to dust and powder; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
- The LORD will make the rain of your land dust and powder; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
Deu.28.25 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יתנך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- נגף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לפני: PREP
- איביך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בדרך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
- תצא: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
- אליו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- ובשבעה: CONJ+PREP+NUM,card,m,pl
- דרכים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- תנוס: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לפניו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- לזעוה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לכל: PREP
- ממלכות: NOUN,f,pl,cs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:17 (verbal): Both verses warn that Yahweh will oppose Israel so that they "flee when none pursues"—a direct verbal and thematic parallel about divinely-caused panic and rout.
- Deuteronomy 28:37 (structural): Close parallel within the Deuteronomic curse-speech: both predict Israel will become a horror/reproach and byword among all peoples as a consequence of covenant disobedience.
- Psalm 44:13-14 (thematic): A communal lament describing military defeat and becoming a reproach among nations—echoes the image of being disgraced and mocked before surrounding peoples.
- Ezekiel 36:19-20 (allusion): Ezekiel depicts Israel scattered among the nations and God’s name profaned—resonates with Deut.28’s themes of defeat, dispersion, and Israel’s dishonor before foreign kingdoms.
- Jeremiah 9:16 (thematic): Jeremiah foretells terror, scattering, and death among the nations as divine punishment—parallels Deut.28:25’s depiction of routed flight and disgrace under Yahweh’s judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will make you be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you will be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu.28.26 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיתה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- נבלתך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,2,ms
- למאכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg
- לכל: PREP
- עוף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- השמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ולבהמת: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,def
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- מחריד: VERB,piel,ptc,0,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 79:2-3 (verbal): Speaks of the bodies of God's servants given as food to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth—near verbal and thematic echo of carcasses being eaten by birds and beasts.
- Isaiah 66:24 (verbal): Images of corpses left to be devoured by birds (and unending shame) parallel Deut. 28's picture of desecrated bodies as food for birds and beasts.
- Ezekiel 39:17-20 (thematic): God summons birds and beasts to feed on the flesh of the defeated—a prophetic, apocalyptic development of the motif of corpses as food for animals.
- 1 Kings 14:11 (verbal): A prophetic curse concerning Jeroboam's house: 'dogs shall eat' and 'birds shall eat'—a parallel formulation of dishonorable treatment of the dead.
- Leviticus 26:22 (thematic): Within the covenant curses God sends wild beasts and other judgments on the people; thematically related as part of the Mosaic curse tradition that Deut. 28 continues.
Alternative generated candidates
- Your dead bodies shall be food for every bird of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; there shall be no one to frighten them away.
- Your carcasses shall be food for every bird of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth; there shall be no one to frighten them away.
Deu.28.27 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יככה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בשחין: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ובטחרים: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ובגרב: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ובחרס: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- תוכל: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- להרפא: VERB,qal,inf
Parallels
- Exodus 9:9-11 (verbal): Describes the same plague of boils inflicted on the Egyptians; similar wording and catalogue of skin afflictions (boils/scabs) as a divine judgment.
- 1 Samuel 5:6 (verbal): Reports that the hand of the LORD struck the Philistines with tumours (boils), using the same imagery/terminology of painful skin afflictions as divine punishment.
- Job 2:7 (thematic): Job is afflicted with painful boils from head to foot; thematically parallels human suffering expressed as widespread, incurable skin disease, though caused by Satan rather than directly by God in this context.
- 2 Chronicles 21:18 (allusion): Describes the LORD striking King Jehoram with an incurable disease in his bowels—an instance of divine affliction described as incurable, echoing Deuteronomy’s motif of God-sent, untreatable ailments as judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch from which you cannot be healed.
- The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
Deu.28.28 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יככה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בשגעון: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובעורון: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובתמהון: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לבב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:29 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same curse section: repeats the motifs of blindness and bewilderment—'thou shalt grope at noonday... as the blind gropeth'—as part of the judicial afflictions promised for disobedience.
- Isaiah 29:9-10 (verbal): Uses very similar language of astonishment and divine-induced stupor: 'be amazed and be ye astonished... the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes,' echoing judicial blindness and bewilderment.
- Ezekiel 12:2 (thematic): Condemns a people who 'have eyes to see but see not; they have ears to hear but hear not'—the prophetic theme of spiritual/psychological incapacity and divine hardening resonates with Deut. 28:28's madness, blindness, and astonishment of heart.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (thematic): New Testament parallel describing divine judicial action: 'God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie'—a comparable idea of God inflicting delusion/madness as punishment.
- Romans 1:28 (thematic): Paul's formulation 'God gave them over to a reprobate mind' reflects the same theological motif of God judicially abandoning people to folly or madness as a consequence of sin.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with bewilderment of heart.
- The LORD will strike you with madness, blindness and bewilderment of heart.
Deu.28.29 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ממשש: VERB,qal,ptc,.,m,sg
- בצהרים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- כאשר: CONJ
- ימשש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- העור: NOUN,m,sg,def
- באפלה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- תצליח: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- דרכיך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אך: PART
- עשוק: ADJ,m,sg
- וגזול: ADJ,m,sg
- כל: DET
- הימים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- מושיע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 5:14 (verbal): Virtually the same image: 'they meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night' — uses the same metaphor of groping/blindness to describe calamity and disorientation.
- Isaiah 59:10 (verbal): Similar language and theme: 'we grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes at midday' — the nation’s helplessness and lack of guidance echoes Deut 28:29.
- Deuteronomy 28:28 (structural): Immediate context within the covenant curses: v.28 speaks of 'madness, blindness and confusion of heart,' which sets up the 'groping at noonday' image in v.29 — part of the single literary unit of punitive consequences.
- Leviticus 26:16–17 (thematic): Part of another covenantal curse tradition: God warns of terror, oppression and defeat as punishment. The theme of national calamity, vulnerability and lack of deliverance parallels Deut 28:29’s depiction of continual oppression and no savior.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in the dark; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and robbed all your days, and no one will rescue you.
- You shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and robbed all the days, and there shall be no one to help.
Deu.28.30 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אשה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תארש: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ואיש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אחר: PREP
- ישכבנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תבנה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תשב: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- כרם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תטע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תחללנו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- 2 Samuel 12:11-12 (verbal): Nathan's oracle against David: as punishment someone close will lie with your wives and your house will suffer—language and theme echo Deut.28:30's image of a wife given to another and loss of one's household.
- Ezekiel 16:37-39 (thematic): Ezekiel portrays Israel as a wife whom God hands over to lovers and shames as judgment; parallels the motif of sexual humiliation and being given to another as punitive imagery.
- Deuteronomy 28:54-57 (verbal): Later verses in the same curse-song expand the same theme: wives defiled before their husbands and the profound humiliation under siege—an immediate verbal and topical echo of v.30.
- Leviticus 26:30-33 (structural): Leviticus' covenant curses likewise predict desolated cities, exile, and loss of the land/property—structurally parallel to Deut.28's sequence (houses built but not inhabited, vineyards planted but not enjoyed).
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not enjoy its fruit.
- You shall betroth a wife, and another shall lie with her; you shall build a house and shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard and shall not gather its grapes.
Deu.28.31 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שורך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,2ms_suff
- טבוח: ADJ,m,sg
- לעיניך: PREP
- ולא: CONJ
- תאכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ממנו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- חמרך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,2ms
- גזול: ADJ,m,sg
- מלפניך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,2,m
- ולא: CONJ
- ישוב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- צאנך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- נתנות: ADJ,f,pl
- לאיביך: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs,2ms
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- מושיע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:20-22 (thematic): Part of the covenantal curse tradition: threats of military defeat, devastation of land and loss of protection—same pattern of divine judgment leading to helplessness and loss of property/livestock.
- Deuteronomy 28:32-33 (structural): Immediate continuation of the Deuteronomic curse-list; verses nearby repeat the theme of family and property being given to others and the people suffering helplessly before enemies.
- Jeremiah 12:7 (thematic): Jeremiah laments that the beloved (people/land) has been given into the hand of enemies—echoes the image of possessions and people handed over with no deliverer.
- Psalm 44:11-12 (thematic): Speaks of being given up to enemies and treated as sheep for food, with enemies taking spoil—parallels the humiliation and loss of flocks/property in Deut 28:31.
Alternative generated candidates
- The ox of your herd shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be taken away before your face, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be none to deliver them.
- Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken from you and shall not be restored; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be no one to help you.
Deu.28.32 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- בניך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+POSS,2,m,sg
- ובנתיך: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,suff:2,ms
- נתנים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- לעם: PREP
- אחר: PREP
- ועיניך: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs+suff(2ms)
- ראות: VERB,qal,ptc,3,f,pl
- וכלות: CONJ+VERB,qal,inf
- אליהם: PREP,3,m,pl
- כל: DET
- היום: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- לאל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ידך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss:2,f,sg
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:37 (verbal): Leviticus 26 contains a parallel list of covenant curses; verse 37 (in many translations) closely echoes the language of children being given to another people and the distress of the parents, reflecting the same covenantal threat repeated in Deut 28.
- Deuteronomy 28:30 (thematic): Earlier in the same curse-section Deut 28:30 speaks of personal and family dishonor (e.g., a wife given to another), part of the broader theme of loss of family and control that culminates in verse 32’s giving of sons and daughters to other peoples.
- 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 (thematic): This passage narrates the Babylonian exile—Israel’s people (including children) taken into foreign lands—and explicitly frames that removal as fulfillment of prophetic/covenantal judgment, serving as the historical realization of the curse described in Deut 28:32.
Alternative generated candidates
- Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail for them all day long; there shall be nothing in your hand.
- Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall long and fail for them all day long; there will be no strength in your hand.
Deu.28.33 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- פרי: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- אדמתך: NOUN,f,sg,sfx
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- יגיעך: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- יאכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עם: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- רק: PRT
- עשוק: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ורצוץ: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg,abs
- כל: DET
- הימים: NOUN,m,pl,def
Parallels
- Deut.28.32 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same curse sequence: both describe loss to foreign peoples (children given over, produce/labor taken) and the theme of exile and subjugation.
- Leviticus 26:32-33 (thematic): Part of the Deuteronomic/Levitical covenant curses: God will make the land a desolation and 'scatter you among the nations,' with enemies occupying the land—echoes the loss of produce and livelihood to outsiders.
- Ezekiel 36:19-20 (allusion): Ezekiel recounts God scattering Israel among the nations because of their defilement and the land becoming desolate to others—resonant theme of exile and loss of homeland resources to foreign peoples.
- Psalm 106:40-43 (thematic): A historical/theological reflection on Israel's punishment: God gives them into the hands of nations and their enemies rule over them—parallels the motif of being oppressed and seeing one's produce and labor taken by strangers.
Alternative generated candidates
- The fruit of your land and all your toil shall be eaten by a nation that you do not know; you shall be only oppressed and crushed all the days.
- A nation which you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your land and all your labors; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed all the days.
Deu.28.34 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- משגע: VERB,piel,ptc,3,m,sg
- ממראה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עיניך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תראה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28:28 (verbal): Same covenant‑curse context — God brings 'madness' (insanity/confusion of heart) as a direct punishment, closely mirroring v.34's language of becoming insane from what one sees.
- Deut.28:66–67 (thematic): Later verses in the same curse section describe continual fear, anxiety and loss of assurance ('fear day and night', wishing for evening or morning), echoing the psychological breakdown expressed in v.34.
- Isaiah 29:9–10 (thematic): Speaks of astonishment, drunkenness not from wine and a spirit of deep sleep that God sends, portraying divinely‑caused confusion and inability to perceive — a prophetic parallel to the theme of mental disorientation in Deut.28:34.
- Luke 21:26 (thematic): In Jesus' eschatological warning people 'fainting from fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world... men fainting at the sight of what is coming,' paralleling the image of people driven to madness by terrifying sights in Deut.28:34.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall become mad from the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
- You shall be distraught at the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
Deu.28.35 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יככה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בשחין: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רע: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- הברכים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- השקים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- תוכל: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- להרפא: INF,niphal
- מכף: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רגלך: NOUN,f,sg,abs+SUFF,2,m,sg
- ועד: CONJ+PREP
- קדקדך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+SUFF,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 9:9-11 (verbal): Describes God-caused boils and sores breaking out on humans and animals—language and affliction closely parallel Deut. 28:35's plague of painful skin disease.
- 1 Samuel 5:6 (verbal): Reports the LORD afflicting the Philistines with 'tumors' (or emerods) after they captured the Ark—similar vocabulary and the motif of divine physical affliction as punishment.
- Job 2:7 (thematic): Satan smites Job with painful boils from head to foot—shares the image of pervasive, debilitating skin disease affecting the whole body.
- Leviticus 26:16-17 (structural): Part of the covenantal curse sequence promising disease and punishment for disobedience; parallels Deut. 28's structural presentation of calamities (including sickness) as consequences of covenant breach.
- Psalm 38:5-7 (thematic): The psalmist speaks of wounds, sores, and a bowed-down, afflicted body—echoing the personal misery and bodily suffering depicted in Deut. 28:35.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will strike you with severe boils on your knees and on your thighs, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head, from which you cannot be healed.
- The LORD will strike you with severe boils on your knees and on your thighs, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
Deu.28.36 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- יולך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אתך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- ואת: CONJ
- מלכך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תקים: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- אל: NEG
- גוי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- ואבתיך: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ועבדת: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אחרים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואבן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut 4:28 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language warning that Israel will be scattered into foreign lands and there serve other gods “wood and stone” — a close verbal parallel within Deuteronomy’s covenant curses.
- Deut 31:16-18 (thematic): God tells Moses that the people and their future king will turn to foreign gods in the land of their enemies and God will hide his face — the same theme of exile and idolatry applied to leadership.
- Lev 26:33-34 (thematic): Leviticus’ covenant sanctions likewise predict scattering Israel among the nations and desolation of the land as punishment for disobedience — a parallel statement of exile as consequence for breaking the covenant.
- 2 Kings 17:6,23,29-34 (structural): Describes the historical fulfillment: Israel carried into Assyria (exiled) and the population’s subsequent mixture of worship (serving foreign/handmade gods), illustrating the outcome Deut 28:36 warns about.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.
- The LORD will lead you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone.
Deu.28.37 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- לשמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- למשל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולשנינה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- העמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- ינהגך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- שמה: ADV
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:37 (verbal): Almost identical covenant-curse language — Israel will become an astonishment/proverb and a byword among the nations (same motif and phrasing in the covenant curse tradition).
- Psalm 44:13-14 (verbal): Speaks of being made a byword among the nations and the peoples shaking their heads — echoes the experience of reproach and scorn foretold in Deut 28:37.
- Ezekiel 36:19-21 (thematic): Describes Israel’s exile leading to profaning God’s name among the nations and Israel’s shame before the peoples — thematically parallels the exile-as-proverb/byword consequence in Deut 28:37.
- Jeremiah 24:9 (verbal): God warns that disobedient Judah will be given over to be a horror, proverb, and byword among the nations — reuses the same covenant-curse imagery of disgrace before the nations.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you.
- You shall become an object of horror, a proverb and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.
Deu.28.38 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- זרע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רב: ADJ,m,sg
- תוציא: VERB,hiph,impf,2,m,sg
- השדה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ומעט: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תאסף: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- יחסלנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- הארבה: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:20 (thematic): Part of the covenant curses promising the land will not yield its increase for disobedience—parallels Deut 28:38’s outcome of sowing much and gathering little.
- Joel 1:4 (verbal): Uses locust imagery (‘what the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten’) to describe harvest devastation—directly parallels Deut 28:38’s statement that the locust will consume the crop.
- Joel 2:25 (thematic): God promises to restore ‘the years that the locust hath eaten,’ thematically responding to the same locust-caused loss described in Deut 28:38.
- Amos 4:9 (verbal): Describes God sending pests (palmerworm, locust) that devour gardens and vineyards—verbal and thematic parallel to crops consumed by locusts in Deut 28:38.
- Psalm 78:46 (thematic): Recounts God’s judgment by sending ‘destroying locusts’ that consume produce—parallels the motif of locusts causing agricultural failure in Deut 28:38.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall sow much seed in the field and shall gather little, for the locust shall consume it.
- You shall sow much seed in the field and gather little; for the locust shall consume it.
Deu.28.39 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כרמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תטע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ועבדת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ויין: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- תשתה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תאגר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- תאכלנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg,suff:1,pl
- התלעת: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Deut.28:42 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same curse section: reiterates loss of fruit—'your vine and your fig tree shall not yield fruit' (same prophetic judgment motif).
- Isaiah 5:2-6 (thematic): The Lord's vineyard imagery: planted and expected to produce good fruit but yields 'wild grapes,' prompting divine judgment—theme of a tended vineyard that fails to deliver and is punished.
- Psalm 80:8-12 (thematic): God brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it, but it is later ravaged—'the boar out of the forest ravaged it; the wild beasts of the field devoured it'—parallel of a planted vine that is destroyed and unusable.
- Joel 1:4 (verbal): Graphic image of insects consuming crops: 'what the palmerworm left hath the locust eaten,' echoing Deut.28:39's motif of worms/locusts devouring vineyards so the owners cannot enjoy the produce.
- Jeremiah 12:10 (allusion): Speaks of shepherds destroying God's vineyard and making it a desolation—uses vineyard-as-people imagery to express leadership failure and resulting devastation akin to Deut.'s curse on produce.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
- You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
Deu.28.40 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- זיתים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יהיו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גבולך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- ושמן: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- תסוך: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- ישל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg+PRON,2,m,sg
- זיתך: NOUN,m,sg,cstr,2,m
Parallels
- Deut.28:38 (verbal): Same chapter and parallel curse-formula: planting productive trees/vineyards but being unable to enjoy their produce (plant/tend but not drink/eat), closely mirroring the olive/oil contrast.
- Micah 6:15 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language and theme—'you will tread the olives, but not anoint with oil'—a direct verbal parallel about failing to benefit from olive harvests.
- 1 Samuel 8:11–17 (thematic): The prophet's warning that a king will take fields, vineyards, and olive groves (and their produce) echoes the theme of dispossession of olives/olive oil as part of social and economic loss.
- Zechariah 4:11–14 (thematic): Image of olive trees supplying oil for the lampstand highlights the cultic/economic importance of olives and oil, clarifying why loss of olive oil (no anointing) is significant.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives shall drop off.
- Olives shall be grown throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil; for your olive shall fail you.
Deu.28.41 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- בנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ובנות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,cons
- תוליד: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- יהיו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- ילכו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בשבי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:32 (verbal): Uses closely similar language: "your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people," echoing the threat that children born will be taken from the parents.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (thematic): Continues the curse-theme of exile and dispersal: Yahweh will scatter the people among the nations, so that families and descendants are separated and subject to foreign rule.
- Leviticus 26:33 (thematic): Part of an earlier covenant‑curse tradition: God threatens to scatter Israel among the nations—an overarching motif explaining loss of family and homeland.
- Isaiah 39:6–7 (allusion): Prophetic prediction that Hezekiah’s descendants will be taken away and some made eunuchs in Babylon, reflecting the concrete fulfillment of the threatened loss of children to foreign captivity.
- 2 Kings 24:14 (structural): A historical instance of the threatened captivity—Nebuchadnezzar’s deportations (e.g., Jehoiachin and others) demonstrate the realization of the Deuteronomic curse that families would be carried off.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
- You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
Deu.28.42 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כל: DET
- עצך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- ופרי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אדמתך: NOUN,f,sg,sfx
- יירש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- הצלצל: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Deut.28:39 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same curse list: nearby verse describes vineyards and grapes ruined by worms—both verses portray agricultural devastation as a consequence of disobedience.
- Exod.10:12-15 (verbal): The Egyptian plague of locusts that 'ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees' closely echoes the image of pests/devourers consuming trees and produce.
- Joel 1:4 (thematic): Joel laments a devastating locust swarm that devours what the palmerworm left—a prophetic lament that thematically parallels Deuteronomy's picture of crops and trees consumed.
- Joel 2:25 (thematic): Offers the theological counterpoint to the devastation motif by promising restoration of 'the years that the locust hath eaten,' directly engaging the same imagery of locusts/consumption used in Deut. 28.
Alternative generated candidates
- Every tree of your field and the produce of your land shall the locust possess.
- All your trees and the fruit of your land shall the locust consume.
Deu.28.43 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הגר: NOUN,f,sg,def,prop
- אשר: PRON,rel
- בקרבך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,prs:2ms
- יעלה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- מעלה: VERB,qal,ptcp,m,sg
- מעלה: VERB,qal,ptcp,m,sg
- ואתה: CONJ+PRON,2,m,sg
- תרד: VERB,qal,juss,2,m,sg
- מטה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מטה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:17 (verbal): Part of the covenant curses: God warns that Israel will be struck down and their foes will rule over them—language parallel to foreigners rising above Israel in Deut 28:43.
- Deuteronomy 28:44 (verbal): Immediate parallel within the same chapter: continues the theme of subordination to foreigners—'he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail' echoes the downward/upward movement of 28:43.
- Judges 3:8 (thematic): Illustrates the recurring pattern in Israel's history: because of covenant unfaithfulness the LORD gives Israel into the power of foreign rulers—concrete case of strangers/external powers prevailing over Israel.
- 2 Kings 17:7-23 (structural): Narrative fulfillment of Deuteronomic warnings: describes Israel's exile and the resettlement by foreign peoples after persistent disobedience—historical realization of the curses including loss of status to outsiders.
- Psalm 106:41-43 (thematic): A liturgical reflection linking Israel's sin to being handed over to enemies and scattered—echoes the causal and moral framework of Deut 28:43 (sin → subjugation by foreigners).
Alternative generated candidates
- The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher, while you shall go down lower and lower.
- The stranger who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, while you shall come down lower and lower.
Deu.28.44 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- ילוך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ואתה: CONJ+PRON,2,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- תלונו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- יהיה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לראש: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואתה: CONJ+PRON,2,m,sg
- תהיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,f,sg
- לזנב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut.28.13 (verbal): Direct antithesis within the same covenant tradition: here the LORD will make Israel 'the head, and not the tail' — the same head/tail imagery reversed to show the promised blessing instead of the curse.
- Deut.28.43 (verbal): Immediate parallel in the curse section: a 'stranger' will rise above you and you will come down — closely related verbal imagery of reversal of status and humiliation.
- Deut.28.45 (structural): Continuation and explanation of the curse pericope: states that 'all these curses' come upon Israel because they did not serve YHWH, providing the covenantal context and motive for the subjection described in v.44.
- Lev.26:17-20 (thematic): Leviticus presents a parallel catalog of covenant curses: disobedience brings defeat, subjugation and humiliation (loss of status and protection), echoing Deut.'s theme of national reversal and enforced lowliness.
Alternative generated candidates
- He shall be the one to lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
- He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be to you a head, and you shall be a tail.
Deu.28.45 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ובאו: VERB,qal,imp,2,mp
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- כל: DET
- הקללות: NOUN,f,pl,def
- האלה: DEM,pl
- ורדפוך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl,obj:2,m,sg
- והשיגוך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl,obj:2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- השמדך: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- שמעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בקול: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- לשמר: VERB,qal,inf
- מצותיו: NOUN,f,pl,abs,poss:3,m,sg
- וחקתיו: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,3,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- צוך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28.15 (verbal): Introductory covenant formula: 'If you will not obey the voice of the LORD... all these curses shall come upon you' — same cause/effect wording and legal framework as v.45.
- Leviticus 26:33 (verbal): God promises to 'scatter you among the nations' as punishment for disobedience — parallels the pursuit/overtaking and ultimate destruction in Deut 28:45.
- Leviticus 26:39 (thematic): Describes survivors perishing among enemies and the land becoming desolate because of failure to keep statutes — echoes Deut 28:45's threatened destruction for not hearkening to God's commandments.
- Jeremiah 11:11 (allusion): Prophetic reiteration of the covenant curse: 'I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant' because they did not obey — mirrors Deut 28:45’s linkage of disobedience with coming curses.
- Ezekiel 5:11 (thematic): God declares dispersion, sword, famine and pestilence for defilement/disobedience — parallels Deut 28:45’s motif of divine pursuit and devastation as punishment for not keeping God's statutes.
Alternative generated candidates
- All these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.
- Then all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep his commandments and statutes which he commanded you.
Deu.28.46 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- לאות: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולמופת: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובזרעך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- עולם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut.28.37 (thematic): Nearby verse on the same theme: Israel becomes an object of astonishment/proverb among the nations—public testimony to Israel’s fate before other peoples.
- Exodus 7:3 (verbal): God says he will multiply his ‘signs and wonders’ in Egypt—uses the same technical phrase (oth u-mofet) describing miraculous acts that testify to divine purpose.
- Isaiah 8:18 (verbal): Isaiah declares himself and his children to be ‘for signs and for wonders’ (le-oth u-le-mofet), a near-verbatim use of the idiom to denote prophetic signs manifesting God’s message.
- Isaiah 20:3 (verbal): Isaiah’s symbolic action is described as a ‘sign and a wonder’ upon Egypt and Ethiopia—again employing the exact phrase to mark a prophetic, public testimony.
- Acts 2:22 (thematic): Peter speaks of Jesus as attested to by ‘miracles, wonders and signs’—the New Testament use of the signs-and-wonders motif as public evidence/testimony mirrors Deuteronomy’s idea of visible testimony before the nations.
Alternative generated candidates
- They shall be a sign and a wonder on you and on your offspring forever.
- They shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and upon your offspring forever.
Deu.28.47 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- תחת: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- עבדת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- בשמחה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובטוב: CONJ+PREP+ADJ,m,sg,abs
- לבב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מרב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כל: DET
Parallels
- Psalm 100:2 (verbal): “Serve the LORD with gladness” — a direct verbal/ideological parallel exhorting service to Yahweh with gladness, matching Deut 28:47’s requirement to serve with joy and a good heart.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 (structural): Opening of the covenant‑curses formula (“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken…”) — provides the broader structural context and cause/result framework for the specific reason given in 28:47.
- Leviticus 26:14–15 (thematic): Part of the covenantal warning that disobedience/not keeping God’s commands brings prescribed punishments — parallels Deut 28:47’s linking of failure to serve God with ensuing curse.
- Joshua 24:14–15 (thematic): Joshua’s summons to ‘fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in truth’ (and to choose whom to serve) contrasts wholehearted service to God with the failure described in Deut 28:47 and underscores the obligation to serve God joyfully.
- Psalm 106:6–8 (thematic): Recital of Israel’s forgetting and sinful behavior (failing to be faithful to God) and the resulting consequences — thematically parallels Deut 28:47’s attribution of calamity to failure to serve Yahweh wholeheartedly.
Alternative generated candidates
- Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.
- Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things,
Deu.28.48 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ועבדת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- איביך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- ישלחנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg,obj:3,m,pl
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- ברעב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובצמא: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובעירם: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs,pr:3,m,pl
- ובחסר: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כל: DET
- ונתן: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- ברזל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- צוארך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms_suff
- עד: PREP
- השמידו: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,pl
- אתך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:47 (structural): Immediate context in the same curse-speech: explains the cause (failure to serve Yahweh) and repeats the theme of being forced to serve your enemies as a result of disobedience.
- Leviticus 26:17 (thematic): Part of an earlier covenantal curse: God will set his face against the people so that enemies will rule over them — same theme of divine punishment by sending foreign oppressors.
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (allusion): God describes Assyria as 'the rod of my anger' sent to punish a people — parallels the idea that Yahweh sends a hostile nation to afflict and subdue Israel.
- Psalm 107:10-14 (verbal): Speaks of those 'sitting in darkness... bound in affliction and iron' because of rebellion; echoes the image of being put under iron yokes and suffering want until deliverance.
- Jeremiah 27:6-8 (thematic): Yahweh declares he will give nations into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar so they must serve him — parallels the motif of Israel being made to serve foreign powers as divine judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you; in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and lacking all things, and he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
- you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lacking all things; and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Deu.28.49 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ישא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- גוי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מרחוק: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מקצה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- כאשר: CONJ
- ידאה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- הנשר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- גוי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- תשמע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לשנו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Deut.28.50 (structural): Immediate continuation of the curse sequence — further description of the foreign nation that comes against Israel (fierce countenance, no regard for age).
- Deut.28.64-65 (thematic): Later verses in the same oracle describing exile and scattering among nations, including loss of language and being subject to foreign peoples — development/ consequence of the invasion pictured in v.49.
- Jeremiah 5:15 (verbal): Very close language and idea: Yahweh brings a nation from afar whose language is not known to Israel; the verse echoes Deuternomic warning almost verbatim.
- Habakkuk 1:6-8 (thematic): Description of an invading people (the Chaldeans) coming from afar, swift and devouring like an eagle — shares the predatory imagery and foreignness of language in Deut 28:49.
- 2 Kings 17:6 (thematic): Historical fulfillment motif: the northern kingdom carried into Assyria by a foreign power from afar (Assyria), reflecting the Deuteronomic threat of conquest and exile by a distant nation.
Alternative generated candidates
- The LORD will bring against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies—a nation whose language you will not understand.
- The LORD will bring against you a nation from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand.
Deu.28.50 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- גוי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- פנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- ישא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- פנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לזקן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ונער: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- יחן: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28.49 (verbal): Immediate parallel in the same oracle: both verses describe 'a nation from far' of fierce countenance—closely repeated language and idea within the Deuteronomic curse.
- 1 Sam.15.3 (thematic): God's command to Saul to destroy Amalek without sparing infants or young parallels the motif of invaders who show no regard for age or status (no favor to the young or old).
- Isa.13.16 (thematic): Prophetic description of the Babylonian onslaught: infants dashed and people treated without mercy—a vivid parallel to invaders ‘not showing favor’ to young or old.
- Lev.26.33-36 (structural): Levitical covenant curses foresee exile and subjugation by foreign nations; thematically consistent with Deut.28's portrayal of ruthless foreign oppressors who show no respect for persons.
Alternative generated candidates
- A nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the old nor show favor to the young.
- A fierce nation, which shall show no regard for the elder and have no pity for the child.
Deu.28.51 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואכל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- פרי: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- בהמתך: NOUN,f,sg,abs-2ms
- ופרי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אדמתך: NOUN,f,sg,sfx
- עד: PREP
- השמדך: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- ישאיר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- דגן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תירוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויצהר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שגר: NOUN,m,sg,const
- אלפיך: NOUN,m,pl,sfx
- ועשתרת: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- צאנך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- האבידו: VERB,hiph,perf,3,pl
- אתך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28.18 (verbal): Earlier summary curse that explicitly curses “the fruit of your land” (and body), framing the same loss of agricultural prosperity found in 28:51.
- Deut.28.38 (verbal): Parallel within the same section: planting and tending vineyards but being unable to enjoy their yield—echoes the statement that invaders will leave none of your grain, wine, or oil.
- Leviticus 26:31–33 (structural): Part of the covenant‑curse sequence: God’s judgment results in cities laid waste, scattering among nations, and enemy possession/consumption of the land’s goods—structurally parallel to Deut.28’s threatened dispossession and loss of produce and livestock.
- Isaiah 3:1 (thematic): Declares removal of the land’s basic supports (bread and water) as divine judgment—thematic parallel to deprivation of staples (grain, wine, oil) in Deut.28:51.
- Ezekiel 5:12 (thematic): Describes judgment by famine, sword and scattering so that the land and people are reduced and deprived—thematically similar to the devastation of crops and livestock threatened in Deut.28:51.
Alternative generated candidates
- They shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed; they shall leave you no grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock—until they have consumed you.
- They shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain, wine or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have destroyed you.
Deu.28.52 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והצר: VERB,hif,perf,3,m,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שעריך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- עד: PREP
- רדת: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- חמתיך: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- הגבהות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- והבצרות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בטח: ADV
- בהן: PREP+PRON,3,f,pl
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ארצך: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- והצר: VERB,hif,perf,3,m,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שעריך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ארצך: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- נתן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut 28:49 (verbal): Immediate parallel within the same oracle: a foreign nation comes from afar to besiege Israel—same siege motif and language introducing the punishment described in v.52.
- 2 Kings 25:1-4 (allusion): Historical fulfillment narrative: Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, encamps against it, and breaks down its walls—directly corresponds to the prophetic picture of besieged gates and broken high walls.
- Jeremiah 52:4-7 (allusion): Parallel account of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (Jeremiah's and the chronicler's version): describes surrounding the city, battering the walls, and the people's distress—mirrors Deut.28:52's depiction of siege and falling defenses.
- Ezekiel 24:2-5 (thematic): Prophetic siege imagery: instructions to lay siege, build a fortification, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem—echoes the theme of sustained siege and the undermining of the city’s walls and strongholds.
Alternative generated candidates
- They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land; they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout the land which the LORD your God has given you.
- They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all the land which the LORD your God has given you.
Deu.28.53 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואכלת: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- פרי: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- בטנך: NOUN,m,sg,sfx
- בשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בניך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+POSS,2,m,sg
- ובנתיך: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,suff:2,ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- נתן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- במצור: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובמצוק: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יציק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- איבך: NOUN,m,sg,cs+2ms
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:57 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same curse-section; repeats the distressing image of consuming one’s own children during siege and famine as part of the covenant curses.
- Jeremiah 19:9 (verbal): Prophetic pronouncement uses nearly identical language (“eat the flesh of their sons and daughters”) to describe siege-induced cannibalism as divine judgment, echoing Deuteronomy’s curse.
- Ezekiel 5:10 (allusion): Ezekiel declares that fathers will eat their sons and sons their fathers as part of God’s judgment—an explicit echo of the siege imagery and familial cannibalism found in Deut 28.
- 2 Kings 6:25–29 (thematic): Narrative account of the siege of Samaria where a woman cooks and serves her son; a concrete, historical illustration of the horrific scenario depicted in Deut 28’s curse.
- Lamentations 4:10 (thematic): Poetic lament describing mothers boiling or cooking their own children during Jerusalem’s destruction; parallels Deut 28’s image of extreme desperation and famine in siege.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will oppress you.
- You shall eat the fruit of your own body—the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you—in the siege and in the distress by which your enemy shall distress you.
Deu.28.54 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- האיש: NOUN,m,sg,def
- הרך: ADJ,m,sg,def
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- והענג: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg,def
- מאד: ADV
- תרע: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- עינו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- באחיו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,poss:3ms
- ובאשת: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,cs
- חיקו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- וביתר: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בניו: NOUN,m,pl,cs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יותיר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deut.28:53 (structural): Immediate context in the same covenant curse sequence; continues the portrait of extreme hunger and familial breakdown that leads tender persons to turn against their own family.
- Leviticus 26:29 (verbal): Part of the earlier covenant curses: uses the explicit language of eating one’s own children, a close verbal parallel to Deut 28’s imagery of family turned against family under famine/judgment.
- Ezekiel 5:10 (thematic): Ezekiel frames Israel’s judgment in similar terms—familial cannibalism as the consequence of siege and divine wrath—echoing the theme of breakdown of social and family bonds found in Deut 28.
- Jeremiah 19:9 (verbal): Jeremiah invokes the covenantal curse motif—‘they shall eat the flesh of their sons and daughters’—recycling the same horrific image of judgment first articulated in Deuteronomy.
- Lamentations 4:10 (thematic): A poetic, eyewitness-style depiction of siege conditions in Jerusalem (mothers boiling/eating their children) that concretely reflects the horrific family scenes anticipated by Deut 28’s curse imagery.
Alternative generated candidates
- The tender and delicate man among you—the one who would not set the sole of his foot on the ground because he is very delicate—will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children who remain.
- The tender and delicate man among you—his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his embrace and toward the rest of his children that remain; he will give none of them any of the flesh of his children which he eats, because he has nothing left.
Deu.28.55 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- מתת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לאחד: PREP
- מהם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- מבשר: PREP
- בניו: NOUN,m,pl,cs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יאכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מבלי: PREP
- השאיר: VERB,hiphil,perf,3,m,sg
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- כל: DET
- במצור: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובמצוק: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יציק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- איבך: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שעריך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:29 (verbal): Part of the Deuteronomic/Lvitical curse tradition; explicitly foretells eating the flesh of one's children in siege—very close verbal parallel to Deut 28:55.
- Jeremiah 19:9 (verbal): Jeremiah repeats the image of people eating their sons and daughters as a judgment on Jerusalem—uses the same horrific motif as a prophetic announcement of siege and calamity.
- Lamentations 4:10 (thematic): A lament describing mothers cooking and eating their children during Jerusalem's siege; supplies a post-event literary echo of the curse pictured in Deut 28:55.
- 2 Kings 6:28-29 (thematic): Narrative account of a siege (Samaria) that includes a woman who cooks her son—an historical example that concretely exhibits the cannibalism motif anticipated in Deut 28:55.
- Ezekiel 5:10 (verbal): Ezekiel uses the language of fathers and sons eating one another as part of prophetic judgment language—another prophetic allusion to the same punitive motif found in Deut 28:55.
Alternative generated candidates
- He will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he is eating; for he will have nothing left in the siege and in the distress in which your enemy will oppress you at all your gates.
- The one most tender and delicate among you—she who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicacy—shall begrudge the husband she embraces, and her son and her daughter,
Deu.28.56 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הרכה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- והענגה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- נסתה: VERB,nip,perf,3,f,sg
- כף: NOUN,f,sg,construct
- רגלה: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- הצג: VERB,hif,perf,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- מהתענג: PREP+VERB,hitp,ptc,ms,sg
- ומרך: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תרע: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- עינה: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- באיש: PREP+NOUN,m,sg
- חיקה: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- ובבנה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- ובבתה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Deut 28:53 (structural): Immediate context in the same curse sequence describing forced eating, loss of appetite and humiliation in the land — a parallel development of the same threats against women and families.
- Deut 28:57 (structural): Continues the series of curses, depicting the horror and disgrace visited on survivors; reinforces the theme of public humiliation and lament tied to military defeat.
- Judges 19:24–29 (thematic): Narrates brutal sexual violence and the public abuse of a woman by invading men; thematically parallels Deut 28's depiction of women exposed to assault and shame in wartime.
- Isaiah 13:16 (verbal): Graphic oracle of conquest where children are dashed and pregnant women ripped open; shares violent wartime imagery of enemies’ treatment of civilians found in Deut 28:56.
- Ezekiel 16:37–41 (allusion): God depicts Jerusalem’s punishment in terms of exposure, violation and rape by foreign nations — an expanded prophetic realization of the humiliation and sexual violation motifs present in Deut 28.
Alternative generated candidates
- The tender and delicate woman, who was not accustomed to exertion and whose foot would not touch the ground, shall begrudge the husband of her bosom, her son, and her daughter.
- and the rest of the children that she bears; for in her anguish and craving she will refuse to give them to one another, because there will be nothing left, in the siege and in the distress which your enemy brings upon you in all your gates.
Deu.28.57 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ובשליתה: NOUN,f,sg,suff
- היוצת: VERB,ptc,act,?,f,sg
- מבין: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רגליה: NOUN,f,pl,suff
- ובבניה: NOUN,m,pl,suff
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תלד: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- כי: CONJ
- תאכלם: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בחסר: PREP
- כל: DET
- בסתר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- במצור: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובמצוק: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יציק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- איבך: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- בשעריך: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs-2ms
Parallels
- Deut 28:53 (structural): Part of the same curse sequence; repeats and develops the motif of eating one’s own offspring “because of want of all things” in the siege—immediate literary parallel within Deuteronomy 28.
- Jer 19:9 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language—God declares that people will “eat the flesh of their sons and daughters” as a consequence of judgment, echoing Deut.28’s cannibalism motif.
- Ezek 5:10 (verbal): Prophetic pronouncement that fathers will eat their sons and sons their fathers and others will eat the flesh of their own children—verbal and thematic parallel to Deut.28’s horrific siege-scenario.
- Lam 4:10 (thematic): Lament describes women boiling and eating their children in Jerusalem’s destruction—a poetic depiction of the same siege-induced cannibalism motif found in Deut.28:57.
- 2 Kgs 6:28-29 (thematic): Narrative account of a besieged city (Samaria) in which women resort to eating a child; provides a historical/story example of the siege-cannibalism theme present in Deut.28:57.
Alternative generated candidates
- Even the most prudent among you, the one who used to go in and out with her children, will be unable to restrain herself and will eat them in secret because of the want and dire necessity within the siege and the distress in which your enemy oppresses you in your gates.
- The most tender and delicate woman among you who would not have stretched out the sole of her foot on the ground, from the delicacy and tenderness of her being—she will eat the flesh of her own sons and the flesh of her own daughters in the distress and in the siege which your enemy shall besiege you.
Deu.28.58 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- תשמר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לעשות: VERB,qal,inf
- את: PRT,acc
- כל: DET
- דברי: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,1,c,sg
- התורה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- הזאת: DEM,f,sg,def
- הכתובים: ADJ,m,pl,def
- בספר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הזה: DEM,m,sg
- ליראה: VERB,qal,inf
- את: PRT,acc
- השם: NOUN,m,sg,def
- הנכבד: ADJ,m,sg,def
- והנורא: ADJ,m,sg,def
- הזה: DEM,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
Parallels
- Deut.6:24-25 (verbal): Links obedience to the statutes in the law with fearing the LORD; explicitly states that careful observance of the commandments (the law) is for the people's good and righteousness, echoing the call to keep the words written in the book.
- Joshua 1:8 (structural): Emphasizes the written 'book of the law' and continual meditation and obedience to it; parallels the insistence in Deut 28:58 on the law written in the book as the basis for fearing and honoring God.
- Deut.4:10 (thematic): Speaks of remembering and teaching the words of the law so that later generations may 'fear the LORD your God'—a close thematic parallel linking the written law, remembrance, and the fear of God.
- Isaiah 8:13 (allusion): Declares that one should 'sanctify the LORD' and regard him as one's fear and dread; resonates with Deut 28:58’s description of the LORD’s name as 'awesome and fearful' to be feared.
- Proverbs 1:7 (thematic): States that 'the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,' connecting the theological motive (fear of God) that undergirds obedience to divine instruction, as in Deut 28:58.
Alternative generated candidates
- If you do not carefully observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,
- If you do not diligently observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,
Deu.28.59 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והפלא: CONJ+VERB,hiphil,perf,3,ms,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- מכתך: NOUN,f,sg,suff-2ms
- ואת: CONJ
- מכות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- זרעך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- מכות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- גדלות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
- ונאמנות: CONJ+ADJ,f,pl,abs
- וחלים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רעים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ונאמנים: CONJ+ADJ,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Deut.28:21-22 (verbal): Immediate parallel within the same curse section: lists specific maladies (consumption, fever, inflammation/fiery heat) and frames them as divine punishment, echoing the language of grievous and long‑continued sicknesses.
- Deut.28:60 (structural): Direct continuation of the same speech—extends verse 59 by declaring that the LORD will bring every sickness and plague not written in the law, reinforcing the theme of ongoing, divine afflictions.
- Leviticus 26:16 (verbal): Part of the Mosaic covenant curses that names terror, consumption and burning fever as punishments; shares verbal and thematic vocabulary for disease as covenant retribution.
- Leviticus 26:25 (thematic): Announces pestilence and military defeat as blows sent by God for disobedience; thematically parallels Deut.28.59 in portraying disease and calamity as instruments of divine judgment.
- 2 Chronicles 21:18-19 (thematic): Narrative example where God strikes a king with an incurable disease as punishment—an illustrated fulfillment of the motif of 'sore and long‑continued' sicknesses used as divine retribution.
Alternative generated candidates
- then the LORD will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, great and lasting plagues and severe and abiding maladies.
- then the LORD will bring upon you and upon your offspring extraordinary plagues—great and lasting scourges and grievous and abiding sicknesses.
Deu.28.60 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והשיב: VERB,hip,impf,3,m,sg
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- כל: DET
- מדוה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יגרת: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- מפניהם: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- ודבקו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 15:26 (verbal): God promises to spare Israel from the diseases he brought on Egypt—directly parallels the language of 'diseases of Egypt' and the consequence of disobedience (here reversed as a warning that those same diseases may be brought upon Israel).
- Deuteronomy 28:27 (verbal): Earlier in the same curse-disclosure the text specifies that the LORD will strike Israel 'with the boils of Egypt,' a close verbal parallel to 'all the diseases of Egypt' that 'cling' to the people in 28:60.
- Deuteronomy 28:59 (structural): This immediately surrounding verse frames the same theme: if Israel breaks the covenant the LORD will 'bring back' upon them 'every sickness and every plague'—establishing the broader structural context for the specific mention in 28:60.
- Leviticus 26:16 (thematic): As part of covenant curses, God warns he will appoint diseases—consumption, fever, etc.—for disobedience. The theme of covenantal retribution by disease parallels Deut. 28:60's threat of Egyptian maladies returning upon Israel.
Alternative generated candidates
- He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you feared, and they shall cling to you.
- He will bring back upon you every sickness of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
Deu.28.61 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- גם: ADV
- כל: DET
- חלי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- מכה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- כתוב: ADJ,ptcp,pass,m,sg
- בספר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- התורה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- הזאת: DEM,f,sg,def
- יעלם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- עד: PREP
- השמדך: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:60 (verbal): Near-identical wording/variant numbering in some traditions: speaks of the LORD bringing diseases and plagues not written in the book of the law.
- Leviticus 26:16 (thematic): Part of the covenantal curses where God appoints ‘terror, consumption, and the burning ague’ and other maladies as punishment for disobedience.
- Ezekiel 14:21 (thematic): Lists pestilence (along with sword, famine, and wild beasts) as one of the specific judgments God sends on a land—parallel to Deut. 28’s catalogue of afflictions.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (thematic): God warns that he may shut up the heavens, send locusts, or send pestilence as signs/discipline—showing the same theological motif of divine-sent plagues for sin.
- Exodus 9:3-6 (thematic): God declares he will bring a very grievous murrain (pestilence) upon the livestock of Egypt as a punitive plague—an earlier example of God-sent disease as judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- Moreover, every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you until you are destroyed.
- Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you until you are destroyed.
Deu.28.62 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ונשארתם: VERB,niphal,perf,2,m,pl
- במתי: PREP
- מעט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תחת: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- הייתם: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,pl
- ככוכבי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,cs
- השמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- לרב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- שמעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בקול: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
Parallels
- Deut 1:10 (verbal): Uses the identical simile “you are as the stars of heaven” earlier in Deuteronomy as a statement of Israel’s great multitude—here the simile is recalled in contrast to being left few because of disobedience.
- Gen 15:5 (verbal): God’s promise to Abram that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars of heaven; same star-of-heavens motif used elsewhere to signify blessing and multitudinous descendants.
- Gen 22:17 (verbal): A renewed Abrahamic promise that descendants will be multiplied “as the stars of heaven” (and sand), echoing the numerical-blessing imagery that is negated by Israel’s disobedience in Deut 28:62.
- Deut 4:27 (thematic): Part of Deuteronomy’s warning that the LORD will scatter Israel among the nations and leave only a few—directly parallels the threat of being ‘left few’ for failure to hear God’s voice.
- Lev 26:38–39 (thematic): Within the covenant curses God warns that, for disobedience, the people will be diminished and perish one by one; thematically parallels the consequence of becoming few after formerly being numerous.
Alternative generated candidates
- And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
- You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Deu.28.63 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- כאשר: CONJ
- שש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עליכם: PREP+PRON,2mp
- להיטיב: VERB,qal,inf
- אתכם: PRT+PRON,2,m,pl
- ולהרבות: VERB,hiph,infc
- אתכם: PRT+PRON,2,m,pl
- כן: ADV
- ישיש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עליכם: PREP+PRON,2mp
- להאביד: VERB,hiph,infc
- אתכם: PRT+PRON,2,m,pl
- ולהשמיד: VERB,hiph,infc
- אתכם: PRT+PRON,2,m,pl
- ונסחתם: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,pl
- מעל: PREP
- האדמה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- שמה: ADV
- לרשתה: INF,qal,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:27–28 (verbal): Part of the covenant curses sequence: God reverses blessings and brings increased punishment when Israel disobeys—parallel language and function to Deut 28:63's shift from prospering to destroying.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (structural): Immediate continuation within the same chapter: describes scattering/uprooting from the land—a direct follow‑on and close parallel to the 'uprooted from off the land' imagery in v.63.
- Jeremiah 18:7–10 (thematic): Gives the principle that God may declare good or evil for a nation and then change course according to their behavior—theological parallel to God reversing blessing into judgment in Deut 28:63.
- Amos 3:2 (thematic): Affirms the idea that Israel's special relationship entails particular responsibility and thus particular punishment—explains why the LORD who once blessed might 'rejoice' to punish.
- Proverbs 1:26 (thematic): Wisdom's voice declares 'I will laugh at your calamity,' using the motif of rejoicing at downfall; literary parallel to the striking language of God 'rejoicing' to bring destruction in Deut 28:63.
Alternative generated candidates
- And it shall be, just as the LORD rejoiced to make you prosperous and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice to bring ruin upon you and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to possess.
- And it shall come to pass that as the LORD rejoiced over doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and in destroying you; and you shall be plucked off from the land which you are entering to possess.
Deu.28.64 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והפיצך: CONJ+VERB,hiphil,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- העמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- מקצה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ועד: CONJ+PREP
- קצה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ועבדת: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אחרים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- לא: PART_NEG
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- ואבתיך: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואבן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Leviticus 26:33 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language about God scattering Israel among the nations as judgment, parallel formulation within the covenant curses tradition.
- Deuteronomy 4:27-28 (verbal): Predicts that Israel will be scattered among the peoples and will serve gods of wood and stone—same motif and similar wording within Deuteronomy's warnings.
- Deuteronomy 29:25-28 (thematic): Links covenant breach with exile and idolatry: the people and land are defiled, and the people are scattered and serve other gods—develops the same covenantal consequence theme.
- 2 Kings 17:6,23 (thematic): Narrates the historical fulfillment of the threat: Israel was taken into Assyrian exile and settled among nations, where idolatry persisted—an historical-theological parallel to the Deuteronomic curse.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone—which neither you nor your fathers have known.
Deu.28.65 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ובגוים: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ההם: PRON,dem,m,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- תרגיע: VERB,qal,imprf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- יהיה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מנוח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לכף: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,cs
- רגלך: NOUN,f,sg,cs+PRON,2,m,sg
- ונתן: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- לב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רגז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכליון: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עינים: NOUN,f,du,abs
- ודאבון: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נפש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:28 (verbal): Uses closely related language about God inflicting mental and sensory distress—'madness, blindness, and astonishment of heart'—paralleling 'a heart of trembling, failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.'
- Leviticus 26:16 (thematic): Speaks of God appointing 'terror' over the people as a consequence of disobedience, echoing the theme of unrest and continual dread in Deut 28:65.
- Leviticus 26:36-37 (allusion): Predicts perishing among the nations and the survivors wasting away with failing eyes and sorrow of heart—language and imagery that closely parallel the physical and emotional afflictions in Deut 28:65.
- Deuteronomy 32:25 (structural): Describes 'the sword without and terror within' in households—structurally similar depiction of external danger and internal panic that complements the 'no rest' and 'heart of trembling' motif in Deut 28:65.
Alternative generated candidates
- And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent soul.
- Among those nations you will find no ease, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes and despair of soul.
Deu.28.66 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- חייך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- תלאים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- מנגד: ADV
- ופחדת: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לילה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויומם: ADV
- ולא: CONJ
- תאמין: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בחייך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
Parallels
- Deut.28.65 (verbal): Immediate context in the same curse section; speaks of trembling, anxiety and unrest sent by YHWH — closely repeated language and idea of continual fear and lack of peace.
- Deut.28.67 (structural): Continues the same covenant curse sequence, depicting relentless distress and regret (day/night anxiety and no assurance of life), forming a structural parallel within the Deuteronomic curse formula.
- Leviticus 26:16, 26:36-37 (thematic): Earlier covenant curses that promise 'terror' and appointed calamities as punishment; thematically mirrors Deut.28:66’s depiction of God‑ordained fear and insecurity.
- Ezekiel 7:25 (thematic): Prophetic announcement of sudden disaster producing melting hearts, trembling, and disappointed hope — thematically similar language of pervasive fear and loss of assurance.
- Psalm 91:5 (thematic): Presents the inverse motif (‘You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day’), serving as a theological contrast to Deut.28:66’s threatened continual fear.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall live in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
- Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear night and day and have no assurance of your life.
Deu.28.67 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- בבקר: PREP
- תאמר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יתן: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,sg
- ערב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובערב: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תאמר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יתן: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,sg
- בקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מפחד: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לבבך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תפחד: VERB,qal,impf,2,f,sg
- וממראה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עיניך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תראה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:66 (structural): Immediate context: the curse continues—life hangs in doubt and you shall fear day and night, providing the direct background for the morning/evening distress of 28:67.
- Job 7:4 (thematic): Job depicts restless nights and an anguished longing for relief (the night drags on; tossing until dawn), paralleling the mood of wishing day were night and night were day because of distress.
- Psalm 77:4 (verbal): Describes sleeplessness and terror—'You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak'—echoing the imagery of fear and disturbing visions that make day and night unbearable.
- Lamentations 3:19-20 (thematic): The poet recalls persistent affliction and inner despair ('remember my affliction... my soul continually remembers it'), resonating with Deut.28:67's depiction of ongoing dread and inability to find relief in morning or evening.
Alternative generated candidates
- In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the fear of your heart and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
- In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
Deu.28.68 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והשיבך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg+2ms
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- באניות: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- בדרך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אמרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,com,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- תסיף: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- עוד: ADV
- לראתה: VERB,qal,inf,_,_,_+PRON,3,f,sg
- והתמכרתם: VERB,hitpael,perf,2,m,pl
- שם: ADV
- לאיביך: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,cstr+PRON,2,m,sg
- לעבדים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ולשפחות: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- קנה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (structural): Same unit of covenant curses: both predict the LORD will scatter Israel among nations and subject them to foreign servitude; 28:64 and 28:68 form part of the connected denunciation of exile and subjugation.
- Leviticus 26:33-39 (thematic): Earlier covenant‑curse tradition promising scattering, few survivors and servitude for disobedience—Leviticus frames the same pattern of exile and humiliation found in Deut 28:68.
- Genesis 15:13 (allusion): God's promise to Abraham that his offspring 'shall be strangers... and shall serve them' anticipates the motif of Israel's servitude in a foreign land echoed by Deut 28:68.
- Hosea 9:3 (allusion): Hosea speaks of Ephraim returning to Egypt and suffering degradation—echoing Deut 28:68's image of a return to Egypt and subjection to enemies.
- 2 Kings 17:6 (thematic): Historical fulfillment motif: the northern kingdom carried into exile by Assyria—parallels Deut 28:68's theme of the people being removed and placed under foreign dominion (sold/enslaved by enemies).
Alternative generated candidates
- And the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again;’ and there you shall be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, and no buyer will be found.
- The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, 'You shall never see it again'; and there you shall be sold to your enemies as male and female servants, and there will be no buyer.
And it shall be, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading‑trough.
Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock.
Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
The LORD will send on you panic, consumption, fever, inflammation, burning, the sword, desolation, and pestilence, in all the work of your hands which you do, until he has destroyed you and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, in that you have forsaken me.
The LORD will make the plague cling to you until he has consumed you from off the land which you are entering to possess.
The LORD will strike you with boils, with fever, with inflammation, with scorching, with the sword, with blasting, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
Your heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron.
The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Your carcass shall be for food to all the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth; there shall be no one to frighten them away.
The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with itch, of which you cannot be healed.
The LORD will strike you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart.
You shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and spoiled all your days, and there shall be none to save.
You shall betroth a wife but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard but shall not gather its grapes.
Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, yet you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken from before you and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be none to help you.
Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail for them all the day long; and there shall be no might in your hand.
The fruit of your land and all your labors shall be eaten up by a people which you do not know; and you shall be continually oppressed and crushed all the days.
You shall be mad because of the sight which your eyes shall see.
The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
The LORD will bring you and the king whom you shall set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve gods of wood and stone.
You shall become a proverb and a byword among all peoples where the LORD will lead you.
You shall carry much seed out to the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.
You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, yet you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for the olives shall drop off.
You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
All your trees and the fruit of your land shall the locust consume.
The stranger who is among you shall rise higher and higher, while you shall come down lower and lower.
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep his commandments and statutes which he commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and among your offspring forever.
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.
Therefore shall you serve your enemies whom the LORD shall send against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of everything; and he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until he has destroyed you.
The LORD will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand.
A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young.
They shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed; and they shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have destroyed you.
They shall besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all the land which the LORD your God has given you.
You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress in which your enemies shall distress you.
The tender and delicate among you—and the very refined—shall be sour-eyed toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he leaves.
He shall withhold nothing from them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat; there shall be no one to give to him, in the siege and in the distress, in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
The tender woman among you, who would not set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicacy and tenderness, shall begrudge every man among you; and she shall eat her husband and her son and her daughter.
Even the woman in labor and her newborn, whom she bears, shall eat them secretly because of the lack of all things, in the siege and in the distress in which your enemy shall distress you at your gates.
If you do not carefully observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,
then the LORD will bring on you and on your offspring extraordinary plagues, great and lasting afflictions and severe and lasting sicknesses. And he will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
Also every sickness and every plague, not written in the book of this law, the LORD shall bring upon you until you are destroyed. And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. And it shall come to pass that just as the LORD rejoiced over doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will rejoice over bringing ruin upon you and destroying you; and you shall be plucked off from the land which you go to possess. And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth even to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among those nations you shall find no rest, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest; but there the LORD will give you a panic of heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.
Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
In the morning you shall say, 'Would God it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'Would God it were morning!' because of the fear of your heart and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. And the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I spoke to you, 'You shall see it no more again'; and there you shall be sold to your enemies for bondmen and bondmaids, and there shall be no buyer.