Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Deuteronomy 28:16

in Deuteronomy 28

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

KJV

Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

⋯

This verse in Deuteronomy 28

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But . . . if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord--Curses that were to follow them in the event of disobedience are now enumerated, and they are almost exact counterparts of the blessings which were described in the preceding context as the reward of a faithful adherence to the covenant.

This site's exposition

You will be cursed in the city

on Deuteronomy 28:16-19

These four verses are verses 3 to 6 with cursed set where blessed stood. Two things move in the copying, the basket and store coming before the fruit, and the fruit of thy cattle dropping out of verse 18. The curse reads as the blessing withdrawn item by item.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. In Deu 28:16 the curses are delivered out in form, as the reverse of the blessings in Deu 28:3; and by observing what the blessings mean, the sense of the curses may easily be understood, the one being directly opposite to the other. See Gill on Deu 28:3.

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אָר֥וּר[will be] cursed

    ʾarurH779 →63 times

  • אַתָּ֖הyou

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • בָּעִ֑ירin the city

    bairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְאָר֥וּרand [will be] cursed

    vearurH779 →63 times

  • אַתָּ֖הyou

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃in the open country

    basadehH7704 →334 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Malachi 3:9–12You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.4 worksJeremiah 44:22So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.3 worksProverbs 3:33The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.3 worksJoel 1:4What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.3 worksJoel 1:8–18Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.3 worksJeremiah 14:18If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Haggai 1:9–11You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.3 worksJoel 2:3Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.3 worksHaggai 2:16–17from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.3 worksIsaiah 24:6–12Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.3 worksMalachi 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.3 worksLamentations 2:11–22My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.3 worksJeremiah 14:2–5“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.3 worksDeuteronomy 28:18The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.3 worksJeremiah 9:11“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”2 works1 Kings 17:12But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”2 works1 Kings 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”2 worksIsaiah 43:28So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Joel 1:4

    What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

    it leads to

    • Joel 2:25

      I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.

    • Amos 4:9

      “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

    • Isaiah 33:4

      Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 3:33

    The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 37:22

      Surely those He blesses will inherit the land, but the cursed will be destroyed.

    • Leviticus 26:14–46

      If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,

    • Job 8:6–7

      if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

    • Psalms 91:10

      no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.

    • Malachi 2:2

      If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse…

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 28 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 28 →