Deuteronomy 28:21

(21) The pestilence.—One of God’s four sore judgments to be sent upon Jerusalem (Eze_14:19-21).

Until he have consumed thee from off the land.—From Deu_28:21-35, inclusive, we seem to be reading of the gradual consumption of Israel “in the land of promise” before any actual captivity.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 28:21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

Ver. 21. The Lord shall make the pestilence.] Which Hippocrates calls Tο θειον, as the falling sickness is called Morbus sacer, as more immediately sent of God.

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.

Deu 28:21-24. Shall make the pestilence cleave to thee — Sometimes Divine Providence shall scourge you by one calamity, and sometimes by another, and they will cut off your people in great numbers. Thy heaven shall be brass — Dry, and shut up from giving rain or dew. The earth iron — Exceeding hard through drought, and barren. The rain of thy land powder and dust — As unprofitable to thy ground or seed as if it were only so much dust. Or rather, by reason of long droughts, dust blown up into the air by winds shall fall in showers instead of rain.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:21 The diseases that afflict (or cling to) Israel would be chronic, not releasing their hold until the nation had succumbed.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

pestilence--some fatal epidemic. There is no reason, however, to think that the plague, which is the great modern scourge of the East, is referred to.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. The pestilence cleave unto thee] ידבק יהוה בך אה הדבר yadbek Yehovah becha eth haddaber, the Lord shall CEMENT the pestilence or plague to thee. Sept., Προσκολλησει Κυριος εις σε τον θανατον, The Lord will GLUE - inseparably attach, the death unto thee. How dreadful a plague it must be that ravages without intermission, any person may conceive who has ever heard the name.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. pestilence] Heb. deber, a general word (originally = death); in J, Exo_5:3; Exo_9:15, Hos_13:14, Amo_4:10. See Baldensperger, PEFQ, 1906, 97 ff. LXX here θάνατος.

whither thou goest in to possess it] The usual phrase in the Sg. passages; see on Deu_6:1. For the corresponding Pl. phrase see Deu_4:26.

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.

The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust,.... That is, instead of showers of rain in their season, to water, refresh, and enrich the earth, and make it fruitful; and for want of them, and through the heat of the sun, being dried and parched, and its clods crumbled into dust, this should be raised up into the air by the force of winds, and let down again in showers of dust; whereby the few herbs, plants, or green trees on it would be utterly destroyed: and so the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of the Lord's sending a wind that should raise the dust and earth upon the herbs of their fields. Such ploughing winds, that cast up the earth and sand, and dust, into the air, whereby men and cattle are sometimes covered, are frequent in the eastern countries; of which See Gill on Jon 4:8,

from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed; that is, from the air, up to which the dust is carried by the wind, and then let fall in vast quantities, like showers, which are very destructive.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 21, 22. The afflictive visitations here named are such as destroy life; but the distinctive character of each it is not easy exactly to define. The pestilence is probably a generic term for any fatal epidemic. In the LXX it is usually represented by the general word Odoacer, death. Consumption; literally, wasting; the designation of any species of tabes or marasmus. Fever (tqLD from qlD; to be parched, to glow); inflammation (rtujj, from rrj to burn); burning fever (tjDq from jdq to kindle): different species of pyrexia, the distinction between which has not been determined. The sword. Instead of brj sword, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan adopt the reading brjo heat, drought; (Gen_31:40) but all the other versions support the reading of the received text, and there is no reason why it should be departed from, more especially as drought is threatened in the verse that follows. Blasting and with mildew; diseases that attack the grain; (Amo_4:9) the former (wOpDvi from pDv to scorch, to blast) a withering or scorching of the ears caused by the east wind; (Gen_41:23) the latter (wOqrye, from qry to be yellowish) the effect produced by a hot wind, which turns the ears yellow, so that they are rendered unproductive.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.