You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.
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Deuteronomy 28:38-40 sits inside this longer paragraph.
But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you. You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out. Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it. Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish. Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away. Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you. You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit. Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand. A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always, so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground. The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower. He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
Parallel Translations
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You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it.
You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them.
You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.
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Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Show all 3 translations
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Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olives shall drop off.
Cross-references (17)
- Micah 6:15 (vv38, 40) You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
- Haggai 1:6 (v38) You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe…
- Joel 1:4 (v38) What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the…
- Joel 2:25 (v38) I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army,…
- Amos 4:9 (v38) “I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees…
Show all 15 cross-references
- Isaiah 5:10 (vv38–39) For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”
- Exodus 10:14-15 (v38) The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no…
- Psalms 23:5 (v40) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
- Psalms 104:15 (v40) wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
- Joel 2:3 (v38) A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate…
- Amos 7:1-2 (v38) Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was…
- Isaiah 17:10-11 (v39) For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants,…
- Joel 1:4-7 (v39) What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the…
- Joel 2:2-4 (v39) A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people;…
- Jonah 4:7 (v39) But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
15 distinct cross-references across this passage (17 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v40 Or, be shaken before they be ripe.
Or, be shaken before they be ripe.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v38 Deu 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into…
Deu 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather [but] little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Ver. 38. For the locust shall consume it.] See this fulfilled in Joe 1:4 Amo 4:9; Amo 7:1-2 Hag 1:6; Hag 1:11.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv38–40 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shall…
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shall not enjoy them,.... Or, "they shall not be thine" (q); being taken from them, and given to others, see Deu 28:32; and for the following reason:
for they shall go into captivity; as when the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, and the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, and all the people of the Jews by the Romans.
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(q) "et non erunt tibi", Pagninus, Montanus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v38 All: so that the little which thou mayst gather…
All: so that the little which thou mayst gather will not be worth mentioning. (Haydock) --- Hebrew may also signify, "Thy field shall produce a great deal, and give thee abundant expectations, but the locusts shall consume it," to mortify thee the more.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v38 38-40. Gather… little in — The curse is extended…
38-40. Gather… little in — The curse is extended to all labour of the field and the vineyard.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v38 38. Here the Discourse returns to Israel’s misfortunes on…
38. Here the Discourse returns to Israel’s misfortunes on their own land, and the connection seems to be with Deu_28:15-24 (or 25), to which Deu_28:38-44 are more or less parallel.
38–40. Consumption of corn by locusts and of grapes by worms, and casting of olives. For these products see on Deu_7:13. Locust, Heb. ’arbeh, properly locust-swarm. Worm, Heb. tola‘ath; the grub which ruins vines, Gk. ἴψ or ἶξ (Strabo, xiii. i. 64), Lat. convolvulus (Pliny, H.N. xvii. 47), is the wine-weevil (Knobel). On cast see on Deu_7:1.
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41 breaks the connection between Deu_28:40; Deu_28:42, and is out of place; cp. Deu_28:32.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v38 (38-42) These are the contrary to Deu_28:11; and Deu_28:44…
(38-42) These are the contrary to Deu_28:11; and Deu_28:44 is the contrary to Deu_28:12-13. From the order of the passage it might seem that these particular troubles were to come on Israel after their captivity. And perhaps it is not accidental that something very like a fulfilment of Deu_28:38-40 is found in Hag_1:6-11. (Comp. also Isa_5:10, “Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.”)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv38–40 Even in their own land the curse would overtake…
Even in their own land the curse would overtake them and rest upon them in all their interests and relations.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv38, 40 General Information:
General Information:
Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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but will gather little seed in
"but will harvest very little food"
translationWords
seed
locust
consume
vineyard
wine
grape
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.