Deuteronomy 28:3

Deu 28:3 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the city, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the field.

Ver. 3. Blessed shalt thou be.] What blessedness is, {See Trapp on "Mat 5:3"}

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_28:3

Blessed shalt thou be in the city.

Blessed in the city

The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle, and sore travail: many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the Divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties, and strength equal to its demands. A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, of magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish, and it is hopeful to work for our Lord amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town, we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies. Today let us expect good things because of this promise, and let our care be to have an open car to the voice of the Lord, and a ready hand to execute His bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. In keeping His commandments there is great reward. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

City life

We have accustomed ourselves so long to think that the glory and beauty displayed on the open fields of the country, where life lies palpitating and warm with the impress of His creative hand, and where all the works of the Lord are ceaselessly singing His praise, must in itself impress more vividly those who linger amid its beauties, and do their work in the glow of its magnificence, than do the streets and lanes and the visible signs of man which stretch out through the city. And yet we do not seek from the hard-working farmer the highest appreciation of nature as such, nor from the toiling agricultural labourer the keenest poetic sentiment. Men are crowded into the city, the villages become more and more depleted. What does it mean? Ask them, and they would tell you that they are going to see life. To the labourer town life means a more stirring existence, he thinks he sees there a wider field, a quicker return, a more brilliant career, and too often he is bitterly disappointed in these hard times. To the pleasure seeker the city is the great lamp towards which he flies with outstretched wings to flicker for a short space around it, to scorch his wings, to burn himself in the nearest approach to nothingness. But life is a very real thing to seek for. In the city there are gathered together various forms of excellence. Here art treasures are collected, and art studies are at their fullest perfection; here music receives its fullest development; here perfection of all kinds tends to aggregate; here the blood courses fuller and stronger; here might be realised that which we speak of so often in the Creed--the communion of saints. (Canon Newbolt.)

Blessed shalt thou be in the field.

Blessed in the field

So was Isaac blessed when lie walked therein at eventide to meditate. How often has the Lord met us when we have been alone! The hedges and the trees can bear witness to our joy. We look for such blessedness again. So was Boaz blessed when he reaped his harvest, and his workmen met him with benedictions. May the Lord prosper all who drive the plough! Every farmer may urge this promise with God, if, indeed, he obeys the voice of the Lord God. We go to the field to labour as father Adam did; and since the curse fell on the soil through the sin of Adam the first, it is a great comfort to find a blessing through Adam the second. We go to the field for exercise, and we are happy in the belief that the Lord will bless that exercise, and give us health, which we will use to His glory. We go to the field to study nature, and there is nothing in a knowledge of the visible creation which may not be sanctified to the highest uses by the Divine benediction. We have at last to go to the field to bury our dead; yea, others will in their turn take us to Gods acre in the field: but we are blessed, whether weeping at the tomb or sleeping in it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt live wealthily.

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

Verse 3. In the city] In all civil employments. In the field - in all agricultural pursuits.

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

3–6. Six forms of blessing, each introd. by the pass. part, of the vb. to bless. They cover Israel’s life: in town and field, in their offspring, crops and cattle, annual harvests and daily bread, all their movement out and in. The structure of the first two and last three is uniform: with 3 accents. The longer third, Deu_28:4, has been expanded; fruit of thy cattle does not appear in LXX nor in the parallel Deu_28:18, and is probably a gloss from Deu_28:11.

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.

Blessed shalt thou be in the city,.... Not only in the city of Jerusalem, where the temple would be built, and there be blessed with the service, worship, and ordinances of God, but in all other cities of the land; where they should dwell in title, large, and spacious houses, and their cities should be walled and fenced, and be very populous; yet should enjoy health, and have plenty of all sorts of provisions brought unto them, as well as prosper in all kinds of merchandise there, as Aben Ezra notes:

and blessed shalt thou be in the field; in the country villages, and in all rural employments, in sowing and planting, as the same writer observes; in all kinds of husbandry, in the culture of the fields for corn, and of vineyards and oliveyards; all should prosper and succeed, and bring forth fruit abundantly.

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

Field. Wherever thou art, all thy undertakings shall prosper. (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).

3-6. Blessed shall thou be — The manifold blessings in all the relations of life are expressed by six beatitudes. Israel will be blessed in the city and in the country; will be blessed with children, with productive fields, with countless flocks and herds; will be blessed in baskets in which the fruits are kept and in which provisions were carried; blessed in the kneading-trough in which the daily food was prepared; blessed will the nation be in all its relations.

Thy basket and thy store — The word rendered basket is the common basket or bag that is used in the East for carrying such articles as might be needed for personal use. Comp. Joh_13:29. Store should be translated kneading-trough. The Hebrew word here used is the same as we have in Exo_8:3; Exo_12:34, where it is correctly translated. Comp. Psa_121:8.

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

Vers. 3-7. The fullness of the blessing in all the relations of life, external and internal, is presented in six particulars, each introduced by the word "blessed." Israel should be blessed in the house and in the field, in the fruit of the body, in the productions of the soil and the increase of herd and flock, in the store and in the use of what nature provided, in all their undertakings, whether in peace or in war, at home or abroad. Basket and thy store; rather, basket and kneading-trough; (see Exo_8:3 Exo_12:34) "the basket" representing the store in which the fruits of the earth were laid up, the "kneading-trough" the use of these for the supply of daily needs. (ver. 6; cf. Num_27:17; Psa_121:8)

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

In the city, and in the field - Whether they were husbandmen or tradesmen, whether in the town or country, they should be preserved from the dangers of both, and have the comforts of both. How constantly must we depend upon God, both for the continuance and comfort of life! We need him at every turn: we cannot be safe, if he withdraw his protection, nor easy, if he suspends his savour: but if he bless us, go where we will, 'tis well with us.

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

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)

Blessed will you be

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh will bless you" (See: Active or Passive)

in the city ... in the field

This merism means that Yahweh will bless them everywhere. (See: Merism)

the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts

These idioms for "your children, and your crops, and all your animals" form a merism for everything the Israelites valued. (See: Idiom and Merism)

the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock

This doublet is three ways of saying that Yahweh will make the Israelites' animals many and strong. AT: "all of your animals along with the calves of the cattle and the lambs of the flocks" (See: Doublet)

translationWords

bless

fruit

body

beast

cow

flocks

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