Deuteronomy 28:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Your sky that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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בַּרְזֶֽל

barzel

H1270

“iron”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 76× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:22

Full BDB Definition

Origin: perhaps from the root of H1269

TWOT: 283a

iron - iron - iron ore - as material of furniture, utensils, implements - tool of iron - harshness, strength, oppression (figuratively)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

1 verb
5 nouns
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

וְהָי֥וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֲשֶׁ֥ר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 19 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 17 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 28:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 26:19 I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like brass;
Jeremiah 14:1–6 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
1 Kings 17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
1 Kings 18:2 Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was sore in Samaria.
Amos 4:7 "I also have withheld the rain from you, When there were yet three months to the harvest; And I caused it to rain on one city, And caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, And the piece where it didn't rain withered.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 28:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהָי֥וּ שָׁמֶ֛יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עַל רֹאשְׁךָ֖ נְחֹ֑שֶׁת וְהָאָ֥רֶץ אֲשֶׁר תַּחְתֶּ֖יךָ בַּרְזֶֽל

Your sky that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 28:23 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἰμί σύ ὁ οὐρανός ὁ ὑπέρ κεφαλή σύ χαλκοῦς καί ὁ γῆ ὁ ὑποκάτω σύ σιδηροῦς

And you shall have over your head a sky of brass, and the earth under you shall be iron.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִיהוֹן שְׁמַיָךְ דִי עִלָוֵי רֵישָׁךְ חֲסִינִין כִּנְחָשָׁא מִלְאֲחָתָא מִטְרָא וְאַרְעָא דִי תְחוֹתָךְ תַּקִיפָא כְפַרְזְלָא מִלְמֶעְבַּד פֵּרִין

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִיהוֹן שְׁמַיָא דְעִילַוֵיכוֹן הֵי כִּנְחָשָׁא דִמְזִיעַ וְלָא מְסַפְּקִין לְכוֹן טַלִין וּמִטְרִין וְאַרְעָא דִתְחוֹתְכוֹן הֵי כְּפַרְזְלָא דְלָא מַזִיעַ דְלָא מַרְטִיבָא אִילָנֵי וְאַסְפַּרְמְקֵי וּמְגָדֵי וְיַרְקֵי

And the heavens above you shall be as brass which sweateth, but that will not yield you any dew or rain; and the ground under you be as iron which sweateth not. nor maketh green the trees, nor yieldeth spiceries, fruits, nor herbs.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 28:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 28:23 And thy heaven that [is] over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee [shall be] iron.

Ver. 23. See on Lev 26:19.

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.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

28:23 In this graphic picture of drought and famine, the sky dams up the rain, making the earth hard and unfruitful.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

It shall give thee no more moisture than if it were of brass.

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

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

heaven . . . brass . . . earth . . . iron--strong Oriental figures used to describe the effects of long-continued drought. This want of regular and seasonable rain is allowed by the most intelligent observers to be one great cause of the present sterility of Palestine.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 23. Thy heaven - shall be brass, and the earth - iron.] The atmosphere should not be replenished with aqueous vapours, in consequence of which they should have neither the early nor the latter rain; hence the earth - the ground, must be wholly intractable, and, through its hardness, incapable of cultivation. God shows them by this that he is Lord of nature; and that drought and sterility are not casualties, but proceed from the immediate appointment of the Lord.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Thy heaven . . . shall be brass, and the earth . . . iron.—Not only in respect of the drought, but of God’s refusal to remove it. See Jeremiah 14, 15 for a most pathetic intercession for Israel under this misery, answered by the order, “Pray not for this people for their good” (Jer_14:11). Only grief is permitted (Deu_28:17). Relief is not given (Deu_15:1).

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

23. Cp. Lev_26:19 : heaven as iron, earth as brass.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth,.... Which was always reckoned a very grievous calamity, have no other burial than in the bowels of beasts and birds; and was the case of many of the Jews in the Antiochian persecution, Psa 79:2; and in a treatise of theirs (h), which relates their many afflictions and sufferings in their present captivity, speaking of a persecution of them in Spain, in the Jewish year 5172, it is reported, how that those that fled to avoid punishment were killed in the fields, where their carcasses lying unburied became a prey to beasts:

and no man shall fray them away; the fowls and the beasts; none of their friends being left to do it, and their enemies would not show so much respect to them, and care of them.

(h) Shebat Judahm sive Hist. Jud. a Gentio, sect. 46. p. 312.

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

Of brass, and yield no rain. (Menochius) --- Pindar says, (Pyth. x.) "The heaven of brass they never can ascend." See Leviticus xxvi. 19.

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Be brass, i.e. like brass, hard and dry, and shut up from giving rain. See Lev 26:19.

Be iron, hard, and chapt, and barren.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

23. Thy heaven… brass — There are, at certain seasons, places in the land where the traveller to-day appreciates the full significance of this curse.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 23, 24. Terrible drought is hero threatened; no rain should fall; (cf. Lev_26:19) but instead thereof dust, both light as powder and heavy as sand, should fall upon them. The allusion is probably to those clouds of dust and sand which often fill the air in Palestine, when the heat is intense and there has been no rain for a season; the wind then becomes a vehement sirocco, and the air is filled with sand and dust, and is like the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, "Bib. Res.," 2:123; Thomson, "Land and the Book," 2:311).

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Brass - Like brass, hard and dry, and shut up from giving rain. Iron - Hard and chapt and barren.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

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)

skies ... will be bronze

Moses speaks of the skies being like bronze because there will be no rain. AT: "skies ... will give no rain" (See: Metaphor)

the earth ... will be iron

Moses speaks of the earth being like iron because no crops will grow. AT: "nothing will grow from the ground" (See: Metaphor)

Yahweh will make the rain of your land into powder and dust

"instead of rain, Yahweh will send sandstorms"

until you are destroyed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "until it destroys you" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

heaven

bronze

earth

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

והיו שמיך אשר על ראשך נחשת AND THY HEAVEN WHICH IS OVER THY HEAD SHALL BE COPPER — These curses (i.e. all the curses contained in this chapter) Moses expressed them as though they came from his own mouth (Megillah 31b) whilst those he spoke on Mount Sinai (Leviticus 26), he expressed them as though from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, as indeed is implied by them (by the expressions used), for so it states there: “And if ye will not hearken unto Me”; “And if ye walk contrary to Me”, whilst here it says: “[And if thou wilt not obey] the voice of the Lord thy God”; “The Lord shall make cleave unto thee”; “The Lord shall smite thee”. Moses was milder in his curses, expressing them in the singular (“The Lord shall smite thee”, not “you”, the entire people), and similarly in this curse, too, he was milder, for in the former curses (those in Leviticus) it states, (Leviticus 26:19) “[I will make] your heaven as iron and your earth as copper”, i.e., that the heaven would not exude moisture, just as iron does not exude, and there would therefore be drought in the world, whilst the earth would exude moisture (be humid) just as copper sweats, and it would consequently rot the fruits. Here, however, it states, “Thy heaven shall be copper and thy earth shall be iron”, i.e. that the heavens would exude moisture: even though they might not pour with rain, at any rate there would be no ruinous drought in the world; whilst the earth would not exude moisture just as iron does not sweat, and consequently the fruits would not perish. Nevertheless this is a curse: for whether it (the earth) be as copper or whether it be as iron it will produce no fruit, and the heaven, too, will not pour with rain (give rain in abundance) (cf. Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 5 3 on Leviticus 26:19).

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.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is barzel (“iron”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “iron” (barzel) shape what this verse is saying?
Leviticus 26:19 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“which” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וְהָי֥וּ» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 17 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
“which” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.