Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.
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Deuteronomy 28:65-67 sits inside this longer paragraph.
All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever. Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young. They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Yahweh your God has given you. You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter, toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates. If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH your God, then Yahweh will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you until you are destroyed. You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
Parallel Translations
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Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.
Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life.
In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.
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And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
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And among these nations shalt thou have no repose, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot; but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and languishing of soul.
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life.
In the morning thou shalt say: 'Would it were even!' and at even thou shalt say: 'Would it were morning!' for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Cross-references (24)
- Deuteronomy 28:34 (v67) so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad.
- Leviticus 26:36 (v65) “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf…
- Job 7:3-4 (v67) so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise, and the night…
- Revelation 9:6 (v67) In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
- Genesis 8:9 (v65) but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned into the ship to him, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth.…
Show all 24 cross-references
- Leviticus 26:16 (v65) I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to…
- Amos 9:4 (v65) Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for…
- Romans 11:10 (v65) Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Always keep their backs bent.”
- Deuteronomy 28:67 (v66) In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart…
- Isaiah 51:17 (v65) Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of…
- Isaiah 57:21 (v65) “There is no peace”, says my God, “for the wicked.”
- Isaiah 65:14 (v65) Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit.
- Lamentations 1:13 (v66) “From on high has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them. He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has…
- Lamentations 3:65 (v65) You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
- Ezekiel 5:12-17 (v65) A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword…
- Ezekiel 12:18-19 (v65) “Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness. Tell the people of the land, ‘The Lord…
- Ezekiel 20:32-35 (v65) “ ‘ “That which comes into your mind will not be at all, in that you say, ‘We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to…
- Hosea 11:10-11 (v65) They will walk after Yahweh, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west. They will…
- Amos 9:9-10 (v65) “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least…
- Habakkuk 3:16 (v65) I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must…
- Matthew 24:8 (v65) But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
- Luke 21:26 (v65) men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
- Hebrews 10:27 (v66) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
- Revelation 6:15-17 (v66) The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v66 Or, thou shall be in doubt of thy life.
Or, thou shall be in doubt of thy life.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv65–67 Deu 28:65 And among these nations shalt thou find…
Deu 28:65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
Ver. 65. A trembling heart.] Juvenal by a jeer calls them Iudaeos trementes, trembling Jews (Sat. vi.). It seems they had Cain’s curse upon them.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv65–66 Neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest;…
Neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; ye shall have no settlement in the land whither you are banished, but there you shall be tossed about from place to place, and sold from person to person, or, Cain-like, wander about like a vagabond.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv65–66 Neither shall thy foot have rest - Ye shall…
Neither shall thy foot have rest - Ye shall have no settlement in the land whither you are banished, but there you shall be tossed about from place to place, and sold from person to person, or Cain - like, wander about.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v65 Verse 65. No ease - a trembling heart, and…
Verse 65. No ease - a trembling heart, and failing of eyes] The trembling of heart may refer to their state of continual insecurity, being, under every kind of government, proscribed, and, even under the most mild, uncertain of toleration and protection; and the failing of eyes, to their vain and ever-disappointed expectation of the Messiah.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv65–66 Deu 28:65. Among these nations shalt thou find no…
Deu 28:65. Among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall thy foot have rest — They have been so far from finding rest, that they have been banished from city to city, from country to country. In many places they have been banished and recalled, and banished again. Several remarkable instances of this kind are mentioned by Bishop Newton here, to whom the reader is referred. In some of them the Jews must have suffered much, particularly when, in the latter end of the fifteenth century, they were banished from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. At that time, according to Mariana, there were one hundred and seventy thousand families, or, as some say, eight hundred thousand persons, who left the kingdom. Abarbinel, a Jewish writer, gives the following account of this their last expulsion from Spain. He says, “Three hundred thousand of them, old and young, men and women, (among whom he was one,) went away on foot, upon one day, not knowing whither to go. Some went into Portugal, others into Navarre, where they conflicted with many calamities: for some became a prey or perished by famine and pestilence; and therefore others committed themselves to sea, hoping to find a quiet seat in some other countries. But on the sea they met with new disasters; for many were sold for slaves when they came on any coast, many were drowned, many burned in the ships, which were set on fire. In short, all suffered the punishment of God the avenger: for, after all this, a plague came and swept away the rest of the miserable wretches, who were hated by all mankind; so all that vast number perished by some calamity or other, except a very few.” Some who sought for rest in the kingdom of Fez, lived there a long time upon grass, and ate its very roots, and then died, and their bodies lay exposed, none being so charitable as to bury them.
The Jewish writer just quoted mentions some taking refuge in Portugal. They paid dearly for this liberty to John II., but within a few years were expelled from thence also by his successor. And in the beginning of the next century a dreadful massacre was made of them at Lisbon, for three days together, where they were not suffered to die of their deadly wounds, but were dragged by their mangled limbs into the market-place, where the bodies of the living and the slain, with others half alive, half dead, were burned together in heaps. Two thousand of them perished in this barbarous manner. Parents durst not mourn for their children, nor children sigh for their parents, when they saw them haled to the place of torment. Fear so dispirited them, as an historian relates, that the living in their aspect did not much differ from the dead, so that they were exactly in the condition Moses here describes, when he says, And the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv65–66 Fearful, dejected, distrustful. The Jews are under continual alarms.…
Fearful, dejected, distrustful. The Jews are under continual alarms. (Calmet)
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 vv66–67 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before…
66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee — The Hebrew reads, Thy life is hanging before thee. It will ever be in present and pressing danger.
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 vv65–67 65. shalt thou find no ease] The vb. is…
65. shalt thou find no ease] The vb. is found only in Jer_31:2; Jer_47:6; Jer_50:34, Isa_52:4; its substantive in Isa_28:12.
no rest, etc.] Gen_8:9.
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a quaking heart] The vb. occurs in Deu_2:25.
failing of eyes] With disappointment of hope: cp. Deu_28:32 and Lam_2:11; Lam_4:17.
pining of soul] Faintness of longing or of life; Heb. nephesh means either.
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 vv65–67 (65) And among these nations shalt thou find no…
(65) And among these nations shalt thou find no ease.—The repeated persecutions of the Jews by other nations in the time of their dispersion are among the most fearful and wonderful phenomena of history.
And failing of eyes.—“Looking for salvation, and it cometh not” (Rashi). How many years have they gone on praying that they may keep the feast “next year” in Jerusalem? and still the hope is deferred.
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 vv65–66 Vers. 65-69. Mental torture as a result of sin.
Vers. 65-69. Mental torture as a result of sin.
The picture here drawn is true in an especial sense of the Jews in their state of exile, maddened, affrighted, and kept in continual torture and suspense by the persecutions and miseries they have been made to endure. We apply it to the state of the ungodly generally a state of internal misery resulting from transgression.
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I UNAPPEASABLE RESTLESSNESS. (Ver. 65.) The sinner is destitute of peace. (Isa_57:21)
1. There is nothing to give it. No inward source of comfort. No perennial spring of satisfaction.
1. There is everything to take it away.
1. An evil conscience.
2. Sense of God"s displeasure.
3. Inward disunion and anarchy.
The consequence is that the sinner cannot settle, tie does not feel at rest. He cannot be happy or contented in any place or occupation. Like a patient tossing under fever, he thinks that his uneasiness arises from his position, whereas it is his disorder. (Cf. "Childe Harold," 1:4, 5; or words of Tiberius to his senate to write to you, conscript fathers, or how to write, or what not to write, may all the gods and goddesses destroy me worse than I feel that they are daily destroying me, if I know.")
II FEAR AND TREMBLING OF HEART. (Vers. 65, 66.) "The wicked flee when no man pursueth". (Pro_28:1) The guilty conscience is full of terrors. It "does make cowards of us all." Gives rise to groundless fears. (Joseph"s brethren, Gen_45:3 Gen_50:15) Morbid working of imagination starting in sleep (Richard III), fancying sounds and movements (Macboth). Works despair. (Saul, 1Sa 28) It unnerves and unmans.
III LOATHING AND WEARINESS OF LIFE. (Ver. 67.) A sated despairing feeling, incapable of removal or alleviation. Ennui. Unbearable dragging on of time. I may say that in all my seventy-five years I have never had a month of genuine comfort. It has been the perpetual rolling of a stone, which I have always had to raise anew" (Goethe). Cf. "Childe Harold," as above
He felt the fullness of satiety, Then loathed he in his native land to dwell;
or Matthew Arnold"s lines
On that hard pagan world disgust And sated loathing fell; Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell," etc. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v67 Would God it were even!
Deu_28:67
Would God it were even!
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Sufferings of the Israelites
This chapter is an awful communication: it threatens the Israelites with every conceivable evil if they departed from serving the Lord their God; it leaves them absolutely without hope unless they turned with all their hearts, and repented them of their disobedience.
So the Israelites entered Canaan and took the lands of the heathen into possession, not without much to sober their prides and to make them not high minded, but fear. The severe judgments spoken of ill this chapter declare also another great law of Gods providence, that to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. It was because the Israelites were Gods redeemed people, because He had borne them on eagles wings and brought them to Himself; because He had made known to them His will, and promised them the possession of a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey; it was for these very reasons that their punishment was to be so severe if they at last abused all the mercies which had been shown to them. For theirs was to be no sudden destruction, to come upon them and sweep them away forever: it was a long and lingering misery, to endure for many generations, like the bush which burned, but was not consumed. We know that Ammon, Amalek, Moab, Assyria, and Babylon have long since utterly perished; the three former, indeed, so long ago, that profane history does not notice them; its beginnings are later than their end. But Israel still exists as a nation, however scattered and degraded; they have gone through for ages a long train of oppressions, visited on them merely because they were Jews. Nay, even yet the end is not; however much their condition is bettered, still, taking them the world through, they have even now much to bear; their hope is still deferred, and as far as their national prospects are concerned, the morning dawns on them with no comfort, the evening descends upon them and brings no rest. This is one remarkable part in their history; and there is another which deserves notice. It is declared in this chapter that amongst the other evils they should suffer for disobedience, they should endure so long a siege from their enemies as to suffer the worst extremities of famine (Deu_28:56). Now, this has, in fact, befallen them twice over. Of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar we have, indeed, no particulars given; it is only said, in general terms, that after the city had been besieged for eighteen months the famine prevailed in it, and there was no bread for the people of the land, so that the king and all the fighting men endeavoured to escape out of the town as the only resource left them. But of the second siege, by Titus and the Romans, we have the full particulars from Josephus, a Jew, who lived at the time, and had the best authority for the facts which he relates. And he mentions it as a horror unheard of amongst Greeks or barbarians, that a mother, named Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, from the country beyond Jordan, was known to have killed her own child for her food, and to have publicly confessed what she had done. Now, we know that the horrors of war have been felt by many nations; but such an extremity of suffering occurring twice in the course of its history, and under circumstances so similar, as in the two sieges of Jerusalem, there is hardly another nation, so far as I am aware, that has experienced. Indeed, the history of the calamities of the last siege of Jerusalem, as given by Josephus, is well worthy of our attentive consideration: it is a full comment on our Lords words (Luk_23:28; Luk_23:30; Mat_24:22). Eleven hundred thousand Jews perished in the course of the siege, by the sword, by pestilence, or by famine. I do not believe that the history of the world contains any record of such a destruction within so short a time, and within the walls of a single city. I said that this dreadful story was well worth our studying; and it is so for this reason. These miseries, greater than any which history mentions, fell upon Gods Church, upon His chosen people, with whom He was in covenant, to whom He had revealed His name, while all the rest of the world lay in darkness. To us, each of us, belongs in the strictest sense the warning of the text. For us, each of us,--if we do fail of the grace of God, if Christ has died for us in vain, if, being called by His name, we are not walking in His Spirit,--there is reserved a misery of which, indeed, the words of the text are no more than a feeble picture. There is a state in which they who are condemned to it shall forever say: In the morning would God it were even, etc. There is a state in which the tender and delicate woman shall hate those whom once she most loved; in which they who lived together hero in friendship wherein God was no party, will have their eyes evil against one another forever. For when selfishness has wrought its perfect work, and the soul is utterly lost, there love is perished forever, and the intercourse between such persons can be only one of mutual reproaches and suspicion and hatred. An eternal restlessness and eternal evil passions mark the everlasting portion of the enemies of God; just as an eternal rest and a never-ending life of love and peace are reserved for those who remain to the end His true children. (T. Arnold, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv65, 67 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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there will be no rest for the bottoms of your feet
Here the phrase "the bottoms of your feet" refer to the whole person. AT: "you will have to continually wander because you have no permanent home where you can rest" (See: Synecdoche)
Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a soul that mourns
This is an idiom. AT: "Yahweh will cause you to be afraid, without hope, and sad" (See: Idiom)
Your life will hang in doubt before you
This is an idiom. AT: "You will not know whether you will live or die" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
nation
rest
heart
mourn
life
fear
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.