Deuteronomy 32:42

Deu 32:42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; [and that] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

Ver. 42. From the beginning of revenges.] I will begin my revenges at the beginning of theirs. Esau began early with his brother Jacob, even in the very womb, and so held on; but God was even with him.

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.

32:42 The phrase arrows drunk with blood combines personification and hyperbole to show the extent of the carnage that will result from God’s judgment of the nations.

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

Verse 42. From the beginning of revenges] The word פרעות paroth, rendered revenges, a sense in which it never appears to be taken, has rendered this place very perplexed and obscure. Mr. Parkhurst has rendered the whole passage thus: -

I will make my arrows drunk with blood;

And my sword shall devour flesh,

With the blood of the slain and captive

From the hairy head of the enemy.

Probably מראש פרעות merosh paroth may be more properly translated, from the naked head - the enemy shall have nothing to shield him from my vengeance; the crown of dignity shall fall off, and even the helmet be no protection against the sword and arrows of the Lord.

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

(42) My sword shall devour flesh.—Comp. Isa_66:16 : “For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many”

With blood.—Literally, from the blood of the slain and of the captivity, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Judgment must begin at the house of God, as it did in Ezekiel’s vision (Eze_9:6), “and begin at my sanctuary;” but it will not end there.

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

42. and the captives] Assigned to death later.

leaders] So LXX ἀρχόντων, Heb. para‘ôth, Ar. fara‘, to excel; A.V. beginning of revenges from the analogy of Aram. phara. In Num_6:5, Eze_44:20, pere‘ = flowing locks. Cp. W. R. Smith on Jdg_5:2, in Black’s Judges, in Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools.

43 Sing, O ye nations, His people,

For His servants’ blood He avengeth,

And vengeance He wreaks on His foes,

And assoils the land of His people.

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.

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people,.... Or, "rejoice, ye nations", who are "his" people; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; the Gentiles, who are the Lord's chosen and covenant people, redeemed and called, and the fulness of them now brought in, and so matter of great rejoicing; or rather, as the Septuagint, which is approved and confirmed by the Apostle Paul, "rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people", Rom 15:10; and as it is there applied to the then state of the Christian church, when Jews and Gentiles were incorporated and united together; so here it respects future time, when, as the fulness of the Gentiles will be brought in, so the Jews will be converted, and the "loammi", Hos 1:9, will be taken off from them, and they will be reckoned among the people of God; and Jews and Gentiles will be joined together in the same Gospel church state, and so are called upon to rejoice in their common salvation, and in their common blessings and privileges, and particularly for what follows:

for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries; by his servants are meant the martyrs of Jesus, whose blood has been shed by antichrist, and the antichristian powers, his adversaries; as the blood of the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont, the Albigenses in Spain, and the Petrobrussians in France, the Bohemians in Germany, the Wickliffites, Lollards and the "martyrs" in Queen Mary's days in England, with many others; and when inquisition is made for blood, the blood of those will be found out, and vengeance rendered for it:

and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people: or "will atone for" (z), expiate, cleanse, and purge both land and people; clear the whole earth, which is the Lord's, from Mahometanism, Paganism, and Popery, and cover it with the knowledge of the Lord by the everlasting Gospel, which will be preached to all nations; and particularly the land of Canaan, laid under an anathema or curse, as threatened, Mal 4:6; under which it has lain ever since the destruction of it by the Romans, and has ever since been inhabited by Pagans, Mahometans, and Papists; and, though once a land flowing with milk and honey, has been turned into a barren wilderness, and will thus remain, and Jerusalem, its metropolis, trodden down by the Gentiles, until their times are fulfilled; which now will be, and then it will be restored to its former fruitfulness and fertility, Luk 21:24; and will be inhabited by the converted Jews, to whom the Lord will be pacified, upon the foot or Christ's atonement, which now will be made known and applied unto them, with the full and free pardon of all their sins, Rom 11:25; and thus ends this most excellent and wonderful song, which is of such a large extent and compass, as to reach from the beginning of the Jewish nation, and before it, to the conversion of the Jews in the latter day; an history of more than four thousand years already; and how long more is yet to come before all in it is fulfilled no man call say.

(z) "propitiabitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "expiabit", Vatablus; "expiat", Junius & Tremellius.

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

Enemies. I will tear the crown from off their head. Chaldean, I will destroy the king, as well as the meanest captives. Protestants, "from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy." At the very first I will completely destroy them. (Haydock) --- I will punish them for the slaughter and captivity of my people, whom they have shaved, as a mark of their servile condition. (Menochius) --- Their bare head, or vain counsels, will be detected and punished. (Worthington)

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).

Of the captives; whom my sword hath sorely wounded, though not utterly killed.

From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy, i.e. when once I begin to revenge myself and my people upon mine and their enemies, I will go on and make a full end. Or, with the head, or with the blood of the head, i.e. of the chief or chiefs, of the revenges of the enemy, i. e. of the revengeful or malicious enemy of God and of his people. The noun substantive is oft put for the adjective; as Gen 17:5, a multitude of nations is put for many nations, Rom 4:17; Gen 45:22, changes of raiment, i.e. changeable raiment; and Psa 99:4, the king’s strength, i.e. the strong and mighty king; and so here, the revenges of the enemy, i.e. the revengeful enemy. And by the head may be here understood either the devil, or the beads and rulers of those empires which were enemies to God’s people. Or, of the head shall be the revenges upon the enemies, i.e. I will take vengeance upon all mine enemies, yea, upon the head or heads of them.

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

42. From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy — The translation in our Authorized Version is manifestly incorrect. From the heads of the leaders of the enemy is a literal translation.

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

My sword shall devour flesh; literally, shall eat flesh; "the edge of the sword is called its mouth, because, like a mouth, it is said to eat and devour" (Gesenius). From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Different renderings of this have been given: LXX, ajpontwn ejcqrwn, "from the head of the hostile princes;" "from the head of the chiefs of the enemy" (Geseuius, Furst, Rosenm "from the hairy head of the foe" (Keil, Herxheimer, Knobel). twOrp, the plural of rp, hair, locks, signifies primarily hairs, and a head of hairs, and may be taken as equivalent to "a hairy head;" but the word is also used in the sense of "princes" or "chiefs" (probably because such were distinguished by copious flowing locks; cf.; Jud_1:5:2) hence the rendering, "head of the chiefs." The former is to be preferred here, for why chiefs or princes should be referred to in this connection does not appear. (cf. Psa_68:22) The rendering of the Authorized Version is wholly unauthorized. This verse presents an instance of alternate parallelism; each half falls into two members, and of the four members thus constituted, the third corresponds to the first, and the fourth to the second; thus"I will make my arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the hairy head of the foe.

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

Captives - Whom my sword hath sorely wounded, though not utterly killed. From the beginning - When once I begin to revenge myself and my people upon mine and their enemies, I will go on and make a full end.

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

General Information:

Moses speaks a poetic song to the people of Israel. (See: Parallelism)

I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh with the blood

Yahweh speaks of arrows as if they were people to whom he could give alcohol and make them drunk, and of a sword as if it were a person who was so hungry that he would eat an animal before draining the blood out. These metaphors are metonyms for a soldier using arrows and a sword to kill many enemies. This in turn is a metaphor for Yahweh killing his enemies in war. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy and Personification)

from the heads of the leaders of the enemy

A possible meaning is "from the long-haired heads of the enemy."

translationWords

bow and arrow

drunk

blood

sword

devour

flesh

captive

head

adversary

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

אשכיר חצי מדם I WILL MAKE MY ARROWS DRUNK WITH BLOOD of the enemy,

וחרבי תאכל AND MY SWORD SHALL DEVOUR their FLESH.

מדם חלל ושביה FROM THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN AND THE CAPTIVE i.e., this will happen to them because of the sin of those slain in Israel (i.e., on account of their blood; מדם), and because of the captives they have made amongst them,

מראש פרעות אויב — because of the sin of even the very first (ראש) breach (פרעות) made by the enemy (פרצות = פרעות); because when the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment from the heathen nations for the wrongs they have inflicted upon Israel, He visits on them their own sin and the sins of their ancestors, from the very first breach they have made in Israel (Sifrei Devarim 332:5).

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.