Deuteronomy 28:22

Deu 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.

Ver. 22. The Lord shall smite thee, &c.] {See Trapp on "Lev 26:16"}

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.

28:22 Some scholars identify these symptoms with tuberculosis.

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

Or, drought.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

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 22. Consumption] שחפת shachepheth, atrophy through lack of food; from שחף shacaph, to be in want.

Fever] קדחת kaddachath, from קדח kadach, to be kindled, burn, sparkle; a burning inflammatory fever.

Inflammation] דלקת dalleketh, from דלק dalak, to pursue eagerly, to burn after; probably a rapidly consuming cancer.

Extreme burning] חרחר charchur, burning upon burning, scald upon scald; from חר char, to be heated, enraged, &c. This probably refers, not only to excruciating inflammations on the body, but also to the irritation and agony of a mind utterly abandoned by God, and lost to hope. What an accumulation of misery! how formidable! and especially in a land where great heat was prevalent and dreadful.

Sword] War in general, enemies without, and civil broils within. This was remarkably the case in the last siege of Jerusalem.

Blasting] שדפון shiddaphon, probably either the blighting east wind that ruined vegetation, or those awful pestilential winds which suffocate both man and beast wherever they come. These often prevail in different parts of the East, and several examples have already been given. See Clarke on Ge 41:6.

Mildew] ירקון yerakon, an exudation of the vegetative juice from different parts of the stalk, by which the maturity and perfection of the plant are utterly prevented. It comes from ירק yarak, to throw out moisture.

Of these seven plagues, the five former were to fall on their bodies, the two latter upon their substance. What a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God!

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

(22) Consumption.—Only here and in Lev_26:16. “With which the flesh is consumed and puffed out” (Rashi).

Fever.—Only here and in Lev_26:16, where it is rendered “burning ague.” ( Comp. Deu_32:22 : “A fire is kindled in mine anger.”)

Inflammation.—Here only. The word is derived from a verb signifying to burn, or pursue hotly, like a fire that hastens on its way. “A heat greater than the fever” (Rashi).

Extreme burning.—Here only. “A disease which heats the body inwardly” (Rashi).

Blasting and mildew.—“I have smitten you with blasting and with mildew” (Amo_4:9, same words). (See also 1Ki_8:37, where “pestilence, blasting, and mildew” are contemplated as possibilities, very probably in view of this curse. Also Hag_2:17.)

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

22. Seven Plagues, four on men, and three on their crops. On the former see Lev_26:16, and consult A. Macalister, art. ‘Medicine’ in Hastings’ D.B.

consumption] Heb. shaḥepheth; from the meaning of the corr. Ar. saḥaf, ‘to affect with consumption of the lungs,’ this is usually conceived as phthisis, but Macalister, from the connection here, thinks more likely a wasting fever of the Mediterranean or Malta type. LXX ἀπορία.

fever] Heb. ḳaddaḥath, lit. kindling, LXX πυρετὸς; cp. Luk_4:38, Joh_4:52. ‘May be malarial fever’ (Macalister).

inflammation] Heb. dalléḳeth, lit. burning, LXX ῥῖγος. ‘Possibly … some form of ague,’ but ‘perhaps indeed typhoid’ (Macalister).

fiery heat] Heb. ḥarḥur, lit. burning or parchedness, LXX ἐρεθισμός, ‘irritation’; ‘such as erysipelas, only this is not very common in Palestine. It might be one of the exanthemata’ (Macalister).

the sword] Heb. ḥereb, LXX A F, etc., φόνος, LXX B, etc., omit. But with Sam., Vulg. and R.V. marg. we may read ḥoreb, dryness; either (as in the similarly emended text of Zec_11:17, cp. Job_30:30) a withering of the body, or, in harmony with the following, drought of the earth.

blasting] Heb. shiddaphôn, mostly the effect of the Sirocco (see Jerusalem, i. pp. 12, 20 f.). Hence the LXX ἀνεμοφθορία.

mildew] Heb. yeraḳôn, wanness, lividness; LXX ὤχρα.

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 cause thee to be smitten fore thine enemies,.... And by them, as they sometimes were by the Philistines and others, before their utter destruction, when they sinned against the Lord; and by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans:

thou shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; march out against them in a body, promising themselves victory, but be utterly routed; so that they shall flee every way they can for their safety; see Deu 28:7,

and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; this shows that Manasseh's case Kg2 21:1, observed Deu 28:15; will not strictly and entirely hold good, nor is there any necessity to adhere closely to it; it is enough that the things threatened and prophesied of were at one time or another fulfilled in these people; for neither the ten tribes, when taken captive by Shalmaneser, were carried into all the kingdoms of the earth, only to some particular places mentioned in Kg2 17:6; nor the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, who were carried by him to Babylon, and returned from thence again at the end of seventy years; but this was exactly fulfilled at their last destruction by the Romans, when they were sent by them into various countries, and have been ever since scattered about in each of the nations of the world. And yet it must be owned that Strabo (g), who wrote before the last destruction of them, affirms, that it was not easy to find any place in the world which had not received them, and was not occupied by them.

(g) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 14. c. 7. sect. 2.

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

Cold. The word occurs no where else. The Chaldean, Syriac, &c., have the reverse, "heat." --- Blasting. In the original, either the mildew destroying the corn, (Haydock) or the jaundice, which attacks the human body, may be meant. (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).

With blasting, and with mildew; two plagues or evil affections of corn. See 1Ki 8:37; 2Ch 6:28; Amo 4:9; Hag 2:17.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Smite thee… with the sword — The Hebrew word here translated sword, with different pointing, would be rendered heat, or drought; and so some of the versions have it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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)

infectious diseases, with fever, with inflammation

"diseases and burning fevers that will make you weak." These all refer to diseases that cause people to grow weak and die.

with drought

"with lack of rain"

mildew

mold that grows on crops and causes them to rot

These will pursue you

Moses speaks of the bad things that would happen to the Israelites as if they were people or animals who would chase after the Israelites. AT: "You will suffer from them" (See: Personification)

translationWords

perish

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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 6:29) “The bellows are burnt (נחר) by the fire”.

ובחרב AND WITH THE SWORD — i.e. He will bring hostile troops against you.

ובשדפון ובירקון AND WITH BLASTING AND WITH MILDEW — these are diseases that afflict grain which is yet in the field (yet growing).

שדפון is the hot east-wind, hale in old French

ירקון is drought. The symptoms are that the surface of the grain becomes pale and ultimately turns yellow; chaume in old French

עד אבדך — The Targum renders this by עד דתיבד, meaning “until you perish”, i.e. until you will perish on your own.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.