Deuteronomy 28:22

 Deuteronomy 28:22

The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

a. ASV: Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT: 'Jehovah doth smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with extreme burning, and with sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they have pursued thee till thou perish  [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: The Lord will smite you with consumption, with fever and inflammation, fiery heat, sword and drought, blasting and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. NLT: The LORD will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die.  [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

e. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: HASHEM will strike you with swelling lesions, with fever, with burning heat, with thirst, and with sword; and with wind blasts and with withering, and they will pursue you until you perish.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH Copyright 1998, 2000 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ldt.]

f. The Israel Bible: HASHEM will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew; they shall hound you until you perish.  [The English Translation was adapted by Israel 365 from the JPS Tanakh. Copyright Ⓒ 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. All rights reserved.]

1. “The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning…”

a. [The] LORD [Strong:  3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

b. [shall] smite thee[ Strong: 5221 nâkâh, naw-kaw'; a primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively):—beat, cast forth, clap, give (wounds), × go forward, × indeed, kill, make (slaughter), murderer, punish, slaughter, slay(-er, -ing), smite(-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, × surely, wound.]

c. [with a] consumption [Strong: 7829 shachepheth, shakh-eh'-feth; from the same as H7828; emaciation:—consumption.]

d. [and with a] fever [Strong: 6920 qaddachath, kad-dakh'-ath; from H6919; inflammation, i.e. febrile disease:—burning ague, fever.]

e. [and with an] inflammation [Strong: 1816 dalleqeth, dal-lek'-keth; from H1814; a burning fever:—inflammation.]

f. [and with] extreme burning [Strong: 2746 charchur, khar-khoor'; from H2787; fever (as hot):—extreme burning.]

2. “...and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.”

a. [and with the] sword [Strong: 2719 chereb, kheh'-reb; from H2717; drought; also a cutting instrument (from its destructive effect), as a knife, sword, or other sharp implement:—axe, dagger, knife, mattock, sword, tool.]

b. [and with] blasting [Strong: 7711 shᵉdêphâh, shed-ay-faw'; or שִׁדָּפוֹן shiddâphôwn; from H7710; blight:—blasted(-ing).]

c. [and with] mildew [Strong: 3420 yêrâqôwn, yay-raw-kone'; from H3418; paleness, whether of persons (from fright), or of plants (from drought):—greenish, yellow.]

d. [and they shall] pursue [thee] [Strong: 7291 râdaph, raw-daf'; a primitive root; to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively [of time] gone by):—chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue(-r).]

e. until [Strong: 5704 ʻad, ad; properly, the same as H5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjunction; especially with a preposition); as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with):—against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for(-asmuch as), (hither-) to, how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, (+ as) yet.]

f. [thou] perish [Strong: 6 ʼâbad, aw-bad'; a primitive root; properly, to wander away, i.e. lose oneself; by implication to perish (causative, destroy):—break, destroy(-uction), not escape, fail, lose, (cause to, make) perish, spend, × and surely, take, be undone, × utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.]

1). Troy Edwards, The Permissive Sense: Most people have read this list (Deuteronomy 28:16-68) with the erroneous idea that God will use His divine creative power to bring about these curses. Nevertheless, when we use the principle of interpreting the Bible with the Bible, we learn that these curses will come because God is  forsaking His people and withdrawing His protection. 

a). Deuteronomy 31:16-18 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

31:18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

2). Edward Williams, Predestination and Election Considered: explaining to his listeners how the Hebrew idiom of permission will keep us away from an erroneous interpretation of Scripture that would otherwise cast aspersions on God’s character. After all, it may be objected, that the Scriptures ascribe to God the causation of moral evil; as hardening the heart of Pharaoh, hardening whom he will, making the wicked for the day of evil, appointing to destruction, determining the death of Christ, delivering him by determinate counsel, doing all evil in a city, making, making vessels to dishonor, fitting them for destruction, &c. In reply to this objection it must be considered, that whatever the import of such representations may be, no interpretation which is unworthy of God can be the true meaning, at the idioms of the sacred languages ascribing cause or operation to God must be understood according to the nature of the subject, and, what is particularly to our purpose, that active verbs which denote making, bring, causing, and the like, often denote a declaration of the thing done, or that shall take place; or a permission of it. (Taken from Troy J. Edwards, The Hebrew Idiom of Permission.)