Deuteronomy 28:63

Deu 28:63 And it shall come to pass, [that] as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Ver. 63. So the Lord will rejoice over you.] See here the venomous nature of sin, so far forth offensive to Almighty God, as to cause him, who otherwise afflicts not willingly, {Lam 3:33} but delights in mercy, {Mic 7:18} to rejoice in the ruin of his creatures, as here, to laugh at their destruction, and mock when their fear cometh, {Pro 1:26} to take as much pleasure therein as a man would do in a cup of generous wine, {Rev 16:19} and to be as much eased thereby, as one over-gorged would be in ridding his stomach of that which oppressed it. {Rev 3:16}

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.

Deu 28:63. The Lord will rejoice over you, to destroy you — His just indignation against you will be so great, that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth delight in glorifying his justice upon incorrigible transgressors, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy. And ye shall be plucked from off the land, &c. — This was fulfilled when the king of Assyria carried the ten tribes into captivity, and planted other nations in their stead; and when the king of Babylon carried away the other two tribes; and especially when the Romans took away their place and nation, not to mention other captivities and transportations of them. “Afterward, when the Emperor Adrian had subdued the rebellious Jews, he published an edict, forbidding them, upon pain of death, to set foot in Jerusalem, or even to approach the country round about. Tertullian and Jerome say, they were prohibited from entering Judea. From that time to this their country hath been in the possession of foreign lords and masters, few of the Jews dwelling in it, and those only of a low, servile condition.”

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

ye shall be plucked from off the land--Hadrian issued a proclamation, forbidding any Jews to reside in Judea, or even to approach its confines.

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

(63) As the Lord rejoiced over you.—See on Deu_30:9.

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

63. rejoiced over you, etc.] Cp. Deu_8:16, Deu_30:9. Rejoice or exult, found only in exilic or post-exilic passages.

to multiply you] See on Deu_1:10, Deu_7:13.

rejoice … to destroy you] This rhetorical figure is characteristic of the deuteronomic style. Contrast Hos_11:8 f.

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.

In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were even,.... Wishing they might get through the day well, fearing their life would be taken away before night, or some sad calamity befall them before the day was past:

and at even thou shall say, would God it were morning; dreading what would happen to them in the night, that some messenger of death would be sent to dispatch them, or they should be haled out of bed to a court of inquisition, and cast into a dungeon:

for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which, thou shalt see; often beholding such dreadful sights, as their countrymen put upon the rack, and cruelly tortured, and then burnt alive; and so their hearts would fear and tremble, lest they should be the next that would be taken up and used in this manner; besides other severities and hard usages, with which their brethren were treated, and they in continual fear of.

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

Rejoice over you to destroy you; his just indignation against you will be so great, that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth doubtless delight in the glorifying of his justice upon incorrigible sinners, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy.

The land whither thou goest to possess it; which was no ordinary land, but a most pleasant land, a land of promise, a token of God’s favour, and a pledge of their eternal inheritance, which was a great aggravation of their loss of it.

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

cf. Deu_30:9; Jer_32:41. He, whose joy it had been to do them good, should rejoice over their destruction. (of Pro_1:26)

God rejoicing in judgment.

The language in this verse is bold, almost beyond example. It jars with our conceptions of the Divine Being to think of him as "rejoicing" in the destruction of even the most obdurate of sinners, he declares that he has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. (Eze_18:32) Christ predicted Jerusalem"s fall, but "wept over it". (Luk_19:41) The language is best interpreted, not of actual joy felt by God in the execution of his judgments, but anthropo-pathically of the certainty, rapidity, and unsparingness with which, like waves chasing each other to the shore, strokes of judgment would descend, as if God took pleasure in inflicting them. The figure is derived from God"s joy in the communication of blessings. As God"s joy in this case a real joy was shown in the number and accumulation ofthe blessings, so would it be with the judgments he would appear to rejoice in the sending of these also. We do not, however, ignore the fact that God must approve of, yea, rest with satisfaction in, every exercise of his perfections, even in the infliction of judgment. The verse, in any view of it, is a very terrible one in its bearings on the prospects of the wicked. J.O.

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

To destroy you - His just indignation against you will be so great, that it will be a pleasure to him to take vengeance on you. For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth delight in glorifying his justice upon incorrigible sinners, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy.

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

Yahweh once rejoiced over you ... multiplying you ... rejoice over you in making you perish and in destroying you. You will be plucked

Moses is speaking to the Israelites as a group, so all instances of "you" are plural. (See: Forms of You)

Yahweh once rejoiced over you in doing you good, and in multiplying you

"Yahweh once enjoyed doing you good and causing you to become many"

he will rejoice over you in making you perish

"he will enjoy making you die"

You will be plucked off the land that you are going into to possess

Moses uses a metaphor to speak of the people as though they were fruit that Yahweh would take off a bush. This can be stated in active form. AT: "He will remove you from the land which you are entering to possess" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

you are going ... scatter you ... you will worship ... you have not known ... you nor your ancestors

Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)

from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth

These two extremes together mean everywhere on earth. AT: "throughout the earth" or "all over the earth" (See: Merism)

translationWords

joy

perish

possess

earth

worship

false god

know

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

'כן ישיש ה SO WILL THE LORD MAKE your enemies REJOICE עליכם OVER YOU, להאביד וגו׳ TO DESTROY [YOU] (Megillah 10b).

ונסחתם is an expression denoting “uprooting”. Similar is, (Proverbs 15:25) “The Lord will uproot (יסח) the house of the haughty”.

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.