Deuteronomy 28:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Deuteronomy 28:22
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
consumption
בַּשַּׁחֶ֨פֶתba.sha.Che.fet
H7829
emaciation · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
fever
וּבַקַּדַּ֜חַתu.vak.ka.Da.chat
H6920
inflammation · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
inflammation
וּבַדַּלֶּ֗קֶתu.vad.da.Le.ket
H1816
a burning fever · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
burning
וּבַֽחַרְחֻר֙u.va.char.Chur
H2746
fever (as hot) · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sword
וּבַחֶ֔רֶבu.va.Che.rev
H2719
drought · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
blasting
וּבַשִּׁדָּפ֖וֹןu.vash.shi.da.Fon
H7711
blight · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
mildew
וּבַיֵּרָק֑וֹןu.vai.ye.ra.Kon
H3420
paleness · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pursue
וּרְדָפ֖וּךָu.re.da.Fu.kha
H7291
to run after (usually with hostile intent · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
perish
אָבְדֶֽךָ'a.ve.De.kha
H6
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause…
Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the pal…
1 Kings 8:37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in…
Haggai 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.
2 Chronicles 6:28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege…
Jeremiah 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 28:15-44
Having viewed the bright side of the cloud, which is towards the obedient, we have now presented to us the dark side, which is towards the disobedient. If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which is as comprehensive of all misery as the blessing is of all happiness. Observe,
I. The equity of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, nor for some light cause; God seeks not occasion against us, nor is he apt to quarrel with us. That which is here mentioned as bringing the curse is, 1. Despising God, refusing to hearken to his voice (Deu 28:15), which bespeaks the highest contempt imaginable, as if what he sai…
a consumption--a wasting disorder; but the modern tuberculosis is almost unknown in Asia.
fever . . . inflammation . . . extreme burning--Fever is rendered "burning ague" (Lev 26:16), and the others mentioned along with it evidently point to those febrile affections which are of malignant character and great frequency in the East.
the sword--rather, "dryness"--the effect on the human body of such violent disorders.
blasting, and with mildew--two atmospheric influences fatal to grain.
John Gill on Deuteronomy 28:22
The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption,.... An emaciation of their bodies, either through famine or wasting diseases, whereby the fluids are washed off, and men are reduced to skin and bones:
and with a fever; a hot burning disease, which dries up the radical moisture, consumes it, and so threatens with death; of which there are various sorts, and some very pestilential and mortal Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of a fire in the face, by which they seem to mean what is called St. Anthony's fire:
and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning; either in the inward parts, as an inflammation of the lungs; or in the outward parts, as carbuncles, burning ulcers, and the like:
an…
Ague — The translation in Lev. 26:16 (R.V., “fever”) of the Hebrew word kaddah’ath, meaning “kindling”, i.e., an inflammatory or burning fever. In Deut. 28:22 the word is rendered “fever.”
Famine — The first mentioned in Scripture was so grievous as to compel Abraham to go down to the land of Egypt (Gen. 26:1). Another is mentioned as having occurred in the days of Isaac, causing him to go to…
Fever — (Deut. 28:22; Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; John 4:52; Acts 28:8), a burning heat, as the word so rendered denotes, which attends all febrile attacks. In all Eastern countries such diseases are very common.…
Heathen — (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the…
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Mildew — (the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning “to be yellow,” yellowness), the result of cutting east winds blighting and thus rendering the grain unproductive (Deut. 28:22; 1 Kings 8:37; 2 Chr. 6:28).
Backsliders · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Blasting · Sent as a — Sent as a
Congestion · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Consumption · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Disease · .Threatened as — .Threatened as
John Calvin on Deuteronomy 28:15–end
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
15. Et erit, si non obedieris voci Jehovae Dei tui, ut custodias faciendo omnia praecepta ejus, et statuta ejus quae ego praecipio tibi hodie, venient super te onmes maledictiones istae, et apprehendent te.
16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
16. Maledictus eris in urbe, et maledictus in agro.
17. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
17. Maledictum canistrum tuum, et conspersio tua…
The Curse, in case Israel should not hearken to the voice of its God, to keep His commandments. After the announcement that all these (the following) curses would come upon the disobedient nation (Deu 28:15), the curse is proclaimed in all its extent, as covering all the relations of life, in a sixfold repetition of the word "cursed" (Deu 28:16-19, as above in Deu 28:3-6); and the fulfilment of this threat in plagues and diseases, drought and famine, war, devastation of the land, and captivity of the people, is so depicted, that the infliction of these punishments stands out to view in ever increasing extent and fearfulness. We are not to record this, however, as a gradual heightening of the…
Some scholars identify these symptoms with tuberculosis.
Rashi on Deuteronomy 28:22
בשחפת — This is a disease whereby one’s flesh becomes worn away and swollen.
ובקדחת AND WITH FEVER — The word is similar in meaning to the verb in (Deuteronomy 32:22) “For a fire burns (קדחה) in My nostrils”. It is the heat felt by sick people, mal du feu in old French, which is a very high temperature.
ובדלקת — This is a fever even hotter than קדחת. — All these terms denote different kinds of diseases, but of a similar character.
ובחרחר — a disease that makes one burning hot inside the body, so that one is continually thirsting for water; in old French astrandement. The word is of the same meaning as the verbs in (Job 30:30) “My bones are burnt (חרה) because of heat”, and in (Jeremiah 6:…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
