Deuteronomy 28:27

27 The Lord smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and the Lord smite the part of (the) body whereby ordures, or turds, be voided out; also the Lord smite thee with scab, and itching, so that thou mayest not be cured. (The Lord shall strike thee with the boils of Egypt, and he shall strike the part of the body where the ordures, or the turds, be voided out; and he shall also strike thee with scabs, and itching, from which thou can never be cured.)

Deuteronomy 28:27 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:27

The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt
Which some understand of the leprosy, Of that sort of it called "elephantiasis", frequent among the Egyptians; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:2). Thevenot ^F9 relates, that when the time of the increase of the Nile expires, the Egyptians are attended with sharp prickings in their skin like needles. So Vansleb says ^F11,

``the waters of the Nile cause an itch in the skin, which troubles such as drink of them when the river increases. This itch is very small, and appears first about the arms, next upon the stomach, and spreads all about the body, which causes a grievous pain; and not only the river water, but that out of the cisterns drank of, brings it, and it lasts about six weeks.''

Though some take this botch to be the botch and blain which the Egyptians were plagued with for refusing to let Israel go, ( Exodus 9:9 Exodus 9:10 ) ;

and with the emerods;
or haemorrhoids, the piles, a disease of the fundament, attended sometimes with ulcers there; see ( 1 Samuel 5:9 ) ;

and with the scab and with the itch:
the one moist, the other dry, and both very distressing:

whereof thou canst not be healed;
by any art of men; which shows these to be uncommon ones, and from the immediate hand of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 426, 427.
F11 Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 35, 36.

Deuteronomy 28:27 In-Context

25 The Lord give thee (to) falling before thine enemies; by one way go thou [out] against them, and by seven ways flee thou from them, and be thou scattered by all the realms of [the] earth; (The Lord shall cause thee to fall before thy enemies; thou shalt go out against them by one way, but thou shalt flee from them by seven ways, and thou shalt be scattered into all the kingdoms of the earth;)

26 and thy dead body be it into meat to all birds of heaven, and to beasts of the earth, and none be that may drive them away. (and thy dead bodies shall be food for all the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one who can drive them away.)

27 The Lord smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and the Lord smite the part of (the) body whereby ordures, or turds, be voided out; also the Lord smite thee with scab, and itching, so that thou mayest not be cured. (The Lord shall strike thee with the boils of Egypt, and he shall strike the part of the body where the ordures, or the turds, be voided out; and he shall also strike thee with scabs, and itching, from which thou can never be cured.)

28 The Lord smite thee with madness, and blindness, and wildness of thought; (The Lord shall strike thee with madness, and blindness, and wildness of thought;)

29 and grope thou in midday, as a blind man is wont to grope in darknesses; and (ad)dress he not thy ways; in all time suffer thou false challenge, and be thou oppressed by violence, neither have thou any that shall deliver thee. (and thou shalt grope in midday, like a blind man is wont to grope in the darkness; and the Lord shall not direct thy ways; at all times, or continuously, thou shalt be violently attacked and robbed, but thou shalt have no one to save thee.)