Deuteronomy 28:21

Easy-to-Read Version

The Lord will send you terrible diseases until you no longer exist, until you are completely gone from the land.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord will make pestilence cling to you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he have consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.

King James Version
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

Lexham English Bible
Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you until it consumes you from the land that you are going to, to take possession of it.

English Standard Version
The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

New Century Version
The Lord will give you terrible diseases and destroy you from the land you are going to take.

New English Translation
The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

Amplified Bible
"The LORD will make the pestilence and plague cling to you until He has consumed and eliminated you from the land which you are entering to possess.

New American Standard Bible
"The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleaue vnto thee, vntill he hath consumed thee from the land, whither thou goest to possesse it.

Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord will send terrible diseases to attack you, and you will never be well again. You will suffer with burning fever and swelling and pain until you die somewhere in the land that you captured. The Lord will make the sky overhead seem like a bronze roof that keeps out the rain, and the ground under your feet will become as hard as iron. Your crops will be scorched by the hot east wind or ruined by mildew.

Complete Jewish Bible
" Adonai will bring on you a plague that will stay with you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

Darby Translation
Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

George Lamsa Translation
The LORD shall send pestilence upon you, until he has consumed you from off the land which you are entering to possess.

Good News Translation
He will send disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land that you are about to occupy.

Literal Translation
Jehovah shall make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from off the land where you are going, to possess it.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The LORDE shall make the pestylence to byde longe with the, tyll he haue consumed the out of the londe, into the which thou commest to possesse it.

American Standard Version
Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it.

Bible in Basic English
The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The Lorde shall make the pestilence cleaue vnto thee, vntyll he haue consumed thee from of the lande whyther thou goest to enioy it.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The LORD will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it.

King James Version (1611)
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleaue vnto thee, vntill he haue consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possesse it.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The Lord cause the pestilence to cleave to thee, until he shall have consumed thee off the land into which thou goest to inherit it.

English Revised Version
The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it.

Berean Standard Bible
The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord ioyne pestilence to thee, til he waaste thee fro the lond, to which thou schalt entre to welde.

Young's Literal Translation
`Jehovah doth cause to cleave to thee the pestilence, till He consume thee from off the ground whither thou art going in to possess it.

Update Bible Version
Yahweh will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.

Webster's Bible Translation
The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave to thee, until he shall have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

World English Bible
Yahweh will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he have consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.

New King James Version
The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.

New Living Translation
The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

New Life Bible
The Lord will make disease to be with you until He has destroyed you from the land you are going in to take.

New Revised Standard
The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Yahweh will cause to cleave unto thee - the pestilence, - until he hath consumed thee from off the soil which thou art entering to possess.

Douay-Rheims Bible
May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

Revised Standard Version
The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

THE MESSAGE
God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you're going in to possess.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ "But if you don't listen to what the Lord your God tells you—if you don't obey all his commands and laws that I tell you today—then all these bad things will happen to you: ¹⁶ "The Lord will curse you in the city and in the field. ¹⁷ He will curse you with empty baskets and pans. ¹⁸ He will curse you, and you will not have many children. He will curse your land, and you will not have good crops. He will curse your animals, and they will not have many babies. He will curse your calves and lambs. ¹⁹ He will curse you at all times in everything you do. ²⁰ "If you do evil and turn away from the Lord , he will make bad things happen to you. You will have frustration and trouble in everything you do. He will continue to do this until you are quickly and completely destroyed. He will do this because you turned away from him and left him. ²¹ The Lord will send you terrible diseases until you no longer exist, until you are completely gone from the land. ²² The Lord will punish you with diseases, fever, and swelling. He will send you terrible heat and you will have no rain. Your crops will die from the heat and disease. All these bad things will happen until you are destroyed! ²³ There will be no clouds in the sky—the sky will look like polished brass. And the ground under you will be hard like iron. ²⁴ The Lord will not send rain—only sand and dust will fall from the sky. It will come down on you until you are destroyed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 5:3, Leviticus 26:25, Numbers 14:12, Numbers 16:46-49, Numbers 25:9, 2 Samuel 24:15, Jeremiah 15:2, Jeremiah 16:4, Jeremiah 21:6, Jeremiah 21:7, Jeremiah 24:10, Matthew 26:7

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:16 - consumption 1 Kings 8:37 - in the land famine 2 Chronicles 6:28 - if there be dearth Ezekiel 14:19 - if I Micah 6:13 - I make

Cross-References

Exodus 15:2
The Lord is my strength. He saves me, and I sing songs of praise to him. He is my God, and I praise him. He is the God of my ancestors, and I honor him.

Deuteronomy 26:17
Today you have said that the Lord is your God. You have promised to live the way he wants. You promised to follow his teachings and to obey his laws and commands. You said you would do everything he tells you to do.

Judges 11:31
I will give you the first thing that comes out of my house when I come back from the victory. I will give it to the Lord as a burnt offering."

2 Samuel 15:8
I made that promise while I was still living in Geshur in Aram. I said, ‘If the Lord brings me back to Jerusalem, I will serve the Lord in a special way.'"

2 Samuel 19:24
Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth, came down to meet King David. Mephibosheth had not cared for his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes since the day the king left Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 19:30
Mephibosheth said to the king, "My lord and king, it is enough that you have come home in peace. Let Ziba have the land."

2 Kings 5:17
Then Naaman said, "If you will not accept this gift, at least do this for me. Let me have enough dirt from Israel to fill the baskets on two of my mules. I ask this because I will never again offer any burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods. I will offer sacrifices only to the Lord !

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee,.... Not only to come upon them; but to continue with them:

until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it; which shows that this respects not some particular seasons, when the pestilence came and continued awhile, and then ceased, as in the times of David; but when it became more general, and issued with other judgments in the utter consumption of them, as at the destruction of Jerusalem, both by the Babylonians and the Romans; at what times the pestilence raged and remained, until by that and other sore judgments the land was wholly depopulated.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The curses correspond in form and number Deuteronomy 28:15-19 to the blessings Deuteronomy 28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deuteronomy 28:20-68.

Deuteronomy 28:20-26

First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war.

Deuteronomy 28:20

Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the original is used Deuteronomy 7:23; 1 Samuel 14:20 for the panic and disorder with which the curse of God smites His foes.

Deuteronomy 28:22

“Blasting” denotes (compare Genesis 41:23) the result of the scorching east wind; “mildew” that of an untimely blight falling on the green ear, withering it and marring its produce.

Deuteronomy 28:24

When the heat is very great the atmosphere in Palestine is often filled with dust and sand; the wind is a burning sirocco, and the air comparable to the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace.

Deuteronomy 28:25

Shalt be removed - See the margin. The threat differs from that in Leviticus 26:33, which refers to a dispersion of the people among the pagan. Here it is meant that they should be tossed to and fro at the will of others, driven from one country to another without any certain settlement.

Deuteronomy 28:27-37

Second series of judgments on the body, mind, and outward circumstances of the sinners.

Deuteronomy 28:27

The “botch” (rather “boil;” see Exodus 9:9), the “emerods” or tumors 1Sa 5:6, 1 Samuel 5:9, the “scab” and “itch” represent the various forms of the loathsome skin diseases which are common in Syria and Egypt.

Deuteronomy 28:28

Mental maladies shah be added to those sore bodily plagues, and should Deuteronomy 28:29-34 reduce the sufferers to powerlessness before their enemies and oppressors.

Blindness - Most probably mental blindness; compare Lamentations 4:14; Zep 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:14 ff.

Deuteronomy 28:30-33

See the marginal references for the fulfillment of these judgments.

Deuteronomy 28:38-48

Third series of judgments, affecting every kind of labor and enterprise until it had accomplished the total ruin of the nation, and its subjection to its enemies.

Deuteronomy 28:39

Worms - i. e. the vine-weevil. Naturalists prescribed elaborate precautions against its ravages.

Deuteronomy 28:40

Cast ... - Some prefer “shall be spoiled” or “plundered.”

Deuteronomy 28:43, Deuteronomy 28:44

Contrast Deuteronomy 28:12 and Deuteronomy 28:13.

Deuteronomy 28:46

Forever - Yet “the remnant” Romans 9:27; Romans 11:5 would by faith and obedience become a holy seed.

Deuteronomy 28:49-58

Fourth series of judgments, descriptive of the calamities and horrors which should ensue when Israel should be subjugated by its foreign foes.

Deuteronomy 28:49

The description (compare the marginal references) applies undoubtedly to the Chaldeans, and in a degree to other nations also whom God raised up as ministers of vengeance upon apostate Israel (e. g. the Medes). But it only needs to read this part of the denunciation, and to compare it with the narrative of Josephus, to see that its full and exact accomplishment took place in the wars of Vespasian and Titus against the Jews, as indeed the Jews themselves generally admit.

The eagle - The Roman ensign; compare Matthew 24:28; and consult throughout this passage the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:54

Evil - i. e. grudging; compare Deuteronomy 15:9.

Deuteronomy 28:57

Young one - The “afterbirth” (see the margin). The Hebrew text in fact suggests an extremity of horror which the King James Version fails to exhibit. Compare 2 Kings 6:29.

Deuteronomy 28:58-68

Fifth series of judgments. The uprooting of Israel from the promised land, and its dispersion among other nations. Examine the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:58

In this book - i. e. in the book of the Law, or the Pentateuch in so far as it contains commands of God to Israel. Deuteronomy is included, but not exclusively intended. So Deuteronomy 28:61; compare Deuteronomy 27:3 and note, Deuteronomy 31:9.

Deuteronomy 28:66

Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee - i. e. shall be hanging as it were on a thread, and that before thine own eyes. The fathers regard this passage as suggesting in a secondary or mystical sense Christ hanging on the cross, as the life of the Jews who would not believe in Him.

Deuteronomy 28:68

This is the climax. As the Exodus from Egypt was as it were the birth of the nation into its covenant relationship with God, so the return to the house of bondage is in like manner the death of it. The mode of conveyance, “in ships,” is added to heighten the contrast. They crossed the sea from Egypt with a high hand. the waves being parted before them. They should go back again cooped up in slaveships.

There ye shall be sold - Rather, “there shall ye offer yourselves, or be offered for sale.” This denunciation was literally fulfilled on more than one occasion: most signally when many thousand Jews were sold into slavery and sent into Egypt by Titus; but also under Hadrian, when numbers were sold at Rachel’s grave Genesis 35:19.

No man shall buy you - i. e. no one shall venture even to employ you as slaves, regarding you as accursed of God, and to be shunned in everything.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 28:21. The pestilence cleave unto thee — ידבק יהוה בך אה הדבר yadbek Yehovah becha eth haddaber, the Lord shall CEMENT the pestilence or plague to thee. Sept., Προσκολλησει Κυριος εις σε τον θανατον, The Lord will GLUE - inseparably attach, the death unto thee. How dreadful a plague it must be that ravages without intermission, any person may conceive who has ever heard the name.