Deuteronomy 32:33
in Deuteronomy 32Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of asps.
KJV
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
6 notes on this verseTheir wine is the poison of dragons,.... Of these creatures, both land and sea dragons; see Gill on Mic 1:8; See Gill on Mal 1:3; Pliny says (l) the dragon has no poison in it; yet, as Dalechamp, in his notes on that writer observes, he in many places prescribes remedies against the bite of the dragon; but Heliodorus (m) expressly speaks of some archers, whose arrows were infected with the poison of dragons; and Leo Africanus (n) says, the Atlantic dragons are exceeding poisonous: and yet other writers (o) besides Pliny have asserted that they are free from poison.
This site's exposition
For their rock is not as our Rock
on Deuteronomy 32:31-33
Verse 31 makes the enemies the judges of the comparison between the two rocks, which is a court the song does not have to convene for itself. The vine of Sodom sends a reader back to Genesis 19, and Isaiah 5:1-7 works the vineyard image the same way against Judah. Commentators divide over whose vine verses 32 and 33 describe, since verse 31 has been speaking of the adversaries while the surrounding song is charging Israel, and Gill and Keil take opposite sides of it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They were planted a choice vine, wholly a right seed, but by sin had become the degenerate plant of a strange vine ( Jer. ii. 21 ), and not only transcribed the iniquity of Sodom, but outdid it, Ezek. xvi.
A promise of the destruction of their enemies and oppressors at last, and the glorious deliverance of a remnant of Israel,
God would soon have subdued their enemies ( Ps. lxxxi. 14 ), but that the wickedness of Israel delivered them into their hands. For their vine, that is, Israel's, is of the vine of Sodom,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Their wine - Their system of doctrines and teaching, is the poison of dragons, etc., fatal and destructive to all them who follow it.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֲמַ֥ת | chamat | [is the] venom of | H2534 → | 125 times |
| תַּנִּינִ֖ם | taninim | serpents | H8577 → | |
| יֵינָ֑ם | yeinam | wine their | H3196 → | 141 times |
| וְרֹ֥אשׁ | verosh | and [the] poison of | H7219 → | 12 times |
| פְּתָנִ֖ים | petanim | cobras | H6620 → | |
| אַכְזָֽר׃ | ʾakhzar | cruel | H393 → |
חֲמַ֥ת[is the] venom of
chamatH2534 →125 times
תַּנִּינִ֖םserpents
taninimH8577 →
יֵינָ֑םwine their
yeinamH3196 →141 times
וְרֹ֥אשׁand [the] poison of
veroshH7219 →12 times
פְּתָנִ֖יםcobras
petanimH6620 →
אַכְזָֽר׃cruel
ʾakhzarH393 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
it leads to
- Psalms 140:3
They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 5:9
For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Matthew 23:27–28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Psalms 57:4
My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Jeremiah 9:3–5
“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Psalms 140:3
Through
Psalms 140:3They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 58:4
Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
- Romans 3:13–14
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- Psalms 58:4
Through
Jeremiah 8:14Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:15
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout…
- Jeremiah 23:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.