Deuteronomy 28:36-48

36 The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.
37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.
38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.
39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.
41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.
42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.
44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.
45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.
46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.
47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Deuteronomy 28:36-48 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 28

In this chapter Moses enlarges on the blessings and the curses which belong, the one to the doers, the other to the transgressors of the law; the blessings, De 28:1-14; the curses, some of which concern individual persons, others the whole nation and body of people, and that both under the former and present dispensations, and which had their fulfilment in their former captivities, and more especially in their present dispersion, De 28:15-68.

Cross References 27

  • 1. 1 Samuel 12:25; 2 Kings 17:4,6; 2 Kings 24:12,14; 2 Kings 25:7,11
  • 2. S Deuteronomy 4:27; 2 Kings 24:14; 2 Kings 25:7,11; 2 Chronicles 33:11; 2 Chronicles 36:21; Ezra 5:12; Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 16:13; Jeremiah 27:20; Jeremiah 39:1-9; Jeremiah 52:28; Lamentations 1:3
  • 3. S Deuteronomy 4:28
  • 4. ver 25; Jeremiah 42:18; Ezekiel 5:15
  • 5. Psalms 22:7; Psalms 39:8; Psalms 44:13; Psalms 64:8; Jeremiah 18:16; Jeremiah 48:27; Micah 6:16
  • 6. 2 Chronicles 7:20; Ezra 9:7; Jeremiah 44:8
  • 7. 1 Kings 9:7; Psalms 44:14; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 25:9,18; Jeremiah 29:18; Lamentations 2:15
  • 8. Leviticus 26:20; Psalms 129:7; Isaiah 5:10; Jeremiah 12:13; Hosea 8:7; Micah 6:15; Haggai 1:6,9; Haggai 2:16
  • 9. S Exodus 10:4
  • 10. S Exodus 10:15; Joel 1:4
  • 11. S Leviticus 10:9
  • 12. Joel 1:4; Joel 2:25; Malachi 3:11
  • 13. Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 17:10-11; Zephaniah 1:13
  • 14. Jeremiah 11:16; Micah 6:15
  • 15. ver 32
  • 16. ver 38; Judges 6:5; Judges 7:12; Jeremiah 46:23
  • 17. ver 13
  • 18. S ver 12
  • 19. ver 13; S Deuteronomy 26:19
  • 20. S Exodus 15:9
  • 21. ver 15; Deuteronomy 4:25-26
  • 22. S Numbers 16:38; Psalms 71:7; Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 20:3; Ezekiel 5:15; Zechariah 3:8; Ezekiel 14:8
  • 23. S Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 32:15
  • 24. S Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 9:35
  • 25. Jeremiah 14:3; Lamentations 4:4
  • 26. Jeremiah 28:13-14; Lamentations 1:14
  • 27. Genesis 49:8
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