Deuteronomy 28:39

39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.

Deuteronomy 28:39 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:39

Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress [them]
Plant them and prune them, in expectation of much fruit from them:

but shall neither drink [of] the wine nor gather [the grapes];
so far from drinking of the wine of them, that they should not be able to gather any grapes from them:

for the worms shall eat them;
a sort of worms pernicious to vines, which the Greeks call "ipes", or "ikes" ^F15; and the Latins "convolvuli" and "volvoces", as Pliny ^F16.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 See Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 27. col. 622, 623.
F16 Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 28.

Deuteronomy 28:39 In-Context

37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

38 You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.

39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.

40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.

41 You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.