Deuteronomy 28:37
in Deuteronomy 28You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee away.
KJV
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 28
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs
on Deuteronomy 28:35-37
Verse 36 brings the king into the curse, his one appearance here, with the king law of 17:14-20 behind it. 2 Kings 24:15 and 25:7 record two kings of Judah carried off.
This site's exposition
an object of horror
Henry reads the horror, scorn and ridicule as the reversal of 26:19, where the LORD set Israel above the nations in praise, fame and honor. The name that drew praise becomes a byword. His comment echoes Proverbs 14:34, that sin is a disgrace to any people.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Some have observed the fulfilling of this threatening in their present state; for, when we would express the most perfidious and barbarous treatment, we say, None but a Jew would have done so. Thus is sin a reproach to any people. (9.) To complete their misery, it is threatened that they should be put quite out of the possession of their minds by all these troubles (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And thou shall become an astonishment,.... To neighbouring nations, that shall hear of their overthrow and captivity, and that shall see the miserable condition they are brought into: a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee; both for the wickedness committed by them, and for the ill usage of them by the nations among whom they should be, as they were in the Babylonish captivity; see Jer 24:9; and now are, it being common to say,"do you think I am a Jew?''or,"none but a Jew would have done such a thing.''
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee, &c.--The annals of almost every nation, for eighteen hundred years, afford abundant proofs that this has been, as it still is, the case--the very name of Jew being a universally recognized term for extreme degradation and wretchedness.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיִ֣יתָ | vehayita | and you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְשַׁמָּ֔ה | leshamah | <into> a horror | H8047 → | |
| לְמָשָׁ֖ל | lemashal | <into> a byword | H4912 → | |
| וְלִשְׁנִינָ֑ה | velishninah | and <into> a taunt | H8148 → | |
| בְּכֹל֙ | bekhol | among all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָֽעַמִּ֔ים | haamim | the peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | where | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יְנַהֶגְךָ֥ | yenahegkha | he will drive away you | H5090 → | |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| שָֽׁמָּה׃ | shamah | there towards | H8033 → | 834 times |
וְהָיִ֣יתָand you will become
vehayitaH1961 →3559 times
לְשַׁמָּ֔ה<into> a horror
leshamahH8047 →
לְמָשָׁ֖ל<into> a byword
lemashalH4912 →
וְלִשְׁנִינָ֑הand <into> a taunt
velishninahH8148 →
בְּכֹל֙among all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
הָֽעַמִּ֔יםthe peoples
haamimH5971 →1873 times
אֲשֶׁר־where
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
יְנַהֶגְךָ֥he will drive away you
yenahegkhaH5090 →
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
שָֽׁמָּה׃there towards
shamahH8033 →834 times
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
Jeremiah 24:9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 9:7
then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 29:18
I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among…
- Jeremiah 15:4
I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
- 1 Kings 9:7
Through
Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:15
For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.…
- Isaiah 13:3
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Ezekiel 29:18–20
“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from…
- Jeremiah 1:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.