Deuteronomy 28:27-37

27 "Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with {the skin rash that cannot be healed}.
28 Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart.
29 And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed [in finding] your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed {all the time}, and there will not be {anyone who will rescue you}.
30 You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it.
31 Your ox [shall] [be] slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey [shall be] stolen [right] {before you}, and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats [shall] be given to your enemies, and {there shall not be anyone who rescues you}.
32 Your sons and your daughters [shall be] given to other people, and {you will be looking on} {longingly} for them all day, {but you will be powerless to do anything}.
33 A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed {for the rest of your lives}.
34 You shall become mad {because of what your eyes shall see}.
35 Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs [from which] {you will not be able to be healed}, from the sole of your foot and up to your crown.
36 Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods [of] wood and stone.
37 And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there.

Deuteronomy 28:27-37 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.

Footnotes 14

  • [a]. Literally "the skin rash that not it is able it to be healed"
  • [b]. Literally "all the days"
  • [c]. Literally "one who delivers/rescues [you]"
  • [d]. Or "ravish/violate"
  • [e]. Literally "to the face of you"
  • [f]. Literally "there shall not be for you one who rescues"
  • [g]. Literally "your eyes [will] see/look"
  • [h]. Literally "wearing out"
  • [i]. Hebrew "to"
  • [j]. Literally "but there will not be for power of your hand"
  • [k]. Literally "all of the days"
  • [l]. Literally "from/by the sight of your eyes"
  • [m]. Literally "which not you are able to heal"
  • [n]. Or "fathers"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.