Deuteronomy 28:38

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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יַחְסְלֶ֖נּוּ

châçal

H2628

“to consume · him”

Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 701

(Qal) to consume, finish off, bring to an end

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 →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

יַחְסְלֶ֖נּוּ to consume H2628

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

יַחְסְלֶ֖נּוּ to consume H2628

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הָאַרְבֶּֽה locust H697 occurs in 21 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
1 adjective
1 conjunction

Verb forms

תּוֹצִ֣יא Hiphil · Imperfect
תֶּאֱסֹ֔ף Qal · Imperfect
יַחְסְלֶ֖נּוּ Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 21 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 9 Hebrew tokens and 14 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 28:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Haggai 1:6 You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don't have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it."
Joel 1:4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
Micah 6:15 You will sow, but won't reap. You will tread the olives, but won't anoint yourself with oil; And crush grapes, but won't drink the wine.
Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, My great army, which I sent among you.
Amos 4:9 I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; And your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: Yet you haven't returned to me," says Yahweh.
Exodus 10:14–15 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
Isaiah 5:10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, And a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
Joel 2:3 A fire devours before them, And behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, And behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

Amos 7:1–2 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest.

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 28:38 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

זֶ֥רַע רַ֖ב תּוֹצִ֣יא הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה וּמְעַ֣ט תֶּאֱסֹ֔ף כִּ֥י יַחְסְלֶ֖נּוּ הָאַרְבֶּֽה

You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 28:38 Septuagint · lemma form

σπέρμα πολύς ἐκφέρω εἰς ὁ πεδίον καί ὀλίγος εἰςφέρω ὅτι καταἐσθίω αὐτός ὁ ἀκρίς

You shall carry forth much seed into the field, and you shall bring in little, because the locust shall devour it.

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)

בַּר זְרַע סַגִי תַּפֵּק לְחַקְלָא וּזְעֵר תִּכְנוֹשׁ אֲרֵי יַחְסְלִנֵהּ גוֹבָא

(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)

בַּר זְרַע סַגִי תִפְקוּן לְחַקְלָא וּזְעֵיר תִּכְנְשׁוּן אֲרוּם יְקַרְסוּם יָתֵיהּ גוֹבָאֵי

You will carry much seed into the field, but gather in little, for the locust shall eat it.

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 28:38 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 →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(38-42) These are the contrary to Deu_28:11; and Deu_28:44 is the contrary to Deu_28:12-13. From the order of the passage it might seem that these particular troubles were to come on Israel after their captivity. And perhaps it is not accidental that something very like a fulfilment of Deu_28:38-40 is found in Hag_1:6-11. (Comp. also Isa_5:10, “Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.”)

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

38. Here the Discourse returns to Israel’s misfortunes on their own land, and the connection seems to be with Deu_28:15-24 (or 25), to which Deu_28:38-44 are more or less parallel.

38–40. Consumption of corn by locusts and of grapes by worms, and casting of olives. For these products see on Deu_7:13. Locust, Heb. ’arbeh, properly locust-swarm. Worm, Heb. tola‘ath; the grub which ruins vines, Gk. ἴψ or ἶξ (Strabo, xiii. i. 64), Lat. convolvulus (Pliny, H.N. xvii. 47), is the wine-weevil (Knobel). On cast see on Deu_7:1.

41 breaks the connection between Deu_28:40; Deu_28:42, and is out of place; cp. Deu_28:32.

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.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather [but] little in; for the locust shall consume it.

Ver. 38. For the locust shall consume it.] See this fulfilled in Joe 1:4 Amo 4:9; Amo 7:1-2 Hag 1:6; Hag 1:11.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shall not enjoy them,.... Or, "they shall not be thine" (q); being taken from them, and given to others, see Deu 28:32; and for the following reason:

for they shall go into captivity; as when the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, and the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, and all the people of the Jews by the Romans.

(q) "et non erunt tibi", Pagninus, Montanus.

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

All: so that the little which thou mayst gather will not be worth mentioning. (Haydock) --- Hebrew may also signify, "Thy field shall produce a great deal, and give thee abundant expectations, but the locusts shall consume it," to mortify thee the more.

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).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

38-40. Gather… little in — The curse is extended to all labour of the field and the vineyard.

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

Even in their own land the curse would overtake them and rest upon them in all their interests and relations.

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

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)

but will gather little seed in

"but will harvest very little food"

translationWords

seed

locust

consume

vineyard

wine

grape

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)

יחסלנו [THE LOCUST] WILL CROP IT OFF — The word means: it will make an end of it. It is for this reason that it (the locust) is also called חסיל (cf. e.g. Joel 1:4) because it consumes all the vegetation, etc. (חסל in Aramaic means “to end”; cf. Talmud Yerushalmi Taanit 3:6).

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 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is châçal (“to consume”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to consume” (châçal) shape what this verse is saying?
This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
The word “to consume” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Exodus 10:4 shares the word «locust» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «תּוֹצִ֣יא» is Hiphil Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.