Deuteronomy 28:23 BSB

Deuteronomy 28:23

The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

KJV

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

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Commentary

2 voices

Ambrose of Milan

Letters 61-70 (397)

By the heaven then being brass is signified its being shut up, and refusing its use to the earth. The earth also is iron, for it witholds its produce, and with hostile rigour excludes from its fructifying soil the seeds thrown upon it, which its wont is to cherish as in the bosom of a tender mother. For when does iron bring forth fruit, when does brass melt into showers?

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Thy heaven - shall be brass, and the earth - iron - The atmosphere should not be replenished with aqueous vapours, in consequence of which they should have neither the early nor the latter rain; hence the earth - the ground, must be wholly intractable, and, through its hardness, incapable of cultivation. God shows them by this that he is Lord of nature; and that drought and sterility are not casualties, but proceed from the immediate appointment of the Lord.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

10 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְהָי֥וּ	ve.ha.Yu	and they will be	H1961 →
שָׁמֶ֛יךָ	sha.Mei.kha	heavens your	H8064 →
אֲשֶׁ֥ר	'a.Sher	which	H834 →
עַל־	'al-	[are] over	H5921 →
רֹאשְׁךָ֖	ro.she.Kha	head your	H7218 →
נְחֹ֑שֶׁת	ne.Cho.shet	bronze	H5178 →
וְהָאָ֥רֶץ	ve.ha.'A.retz	and the ground	H776 →
אֲשֶׁר־	'a.Sher-	which	H834 →
תַּחְתֶּ֖יךָ	tach.Tei.kha	[is] under you	H8478 →
בַּרְזֶֽל׃	bar.Zel	iron	H1270 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Kings 17:1
Now 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…
leads to
- Luke 4:25–26
  But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all…
- James 5:17
  Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
- Luke 1:17
  And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to…
- 1 Kings 22:14
  But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”
- 2 Kings 3:14
  Then Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not for my regard for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at…
Through
Amos 4:7
“I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.
leads to
- Exodus 9:26
  The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
- Jeremiah 3:3
  Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
Through
Leviticus 26:19
I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
leads to
- 1 Kings 17:1
  Now 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…

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Six covenants in succession, cumulative rather than replacing. Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New. Each narrowing the line of promise while widening the scope of fulfillment.

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The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai — engraving by Gustave Doré

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Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read chapter 28 →The featured study →

Continue: Deuteronomy 28 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Deuteronomy

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Deuteronomy