Deuteronomy 28:39
in Deuteronomy 28You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
KJV
Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
⋯
This verse in Deuteronomy 28
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them,.... Plant them and prune them, in expectation of much fruit from them: but shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; so far from drinking of the wine of them, that they should not be able to gather any grapes from them: for the worms shall eat them; a sort of worms pernicious to vines, which the Greeks call "ipes", or "ikes" (o); and the Latins "convolvuli" and "volvoces", as Pliny (p). (o) See Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 27. col. 622, 623. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 17. c.
This site's exposition
You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little
on Deuteronomy 28:38-42
Five verses of labor come to nothing: seed and locust, vineyard and worm, olive and dropped fruit, children and captivity, and the locust again. This curse leaves the work standing and takes away the yield, a different stroke from plague and sword.
This site's exposition
because worms will eat them
Gill identifies the worm that eats the grapes as a pest of vines, called ipes by the Greeks and convolvulus in the Latin of Pliny. Henry notes that the nations around used rites to guard their vineyards. For Israel the one guard was obedience to the LORD.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּרָמִ֥ים | keramim | vineyards | H3754 → | 92 times |
| תִּטַּ֖ע | tita' | you will plant | H5193 → | 58 times |
| וְעָבָ֑דְתָּ | veavadeta | and you will labor | H5647 → | 288 times |
| וְיַ֤יִן | veyayin | and wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִשְׁתֶּה֙ | tishteh | you will drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֶאֱגֹ֔ר | teegor | you will gather | H103 → | |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹאכְלֶ֖נּוּ | tokhelenu | it will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
| הַתֹּלָֽעַת׃ | hatolaat | the worm[s] | H8438 → |
כְּרָמִ֥יםvineyards
keramimH3754 →92 times
תִּטַּ֖עyou will plant
tita'H5193 →58 times
וְעָבָ֑דְתָּand you will labor
veavadetaH5647 →288 times
וְיַ֤יִןand wine
veyayinH3196 →141 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִשְׁתֶּה֙you will drink
tishtehH8354 →217 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תֶאֱגֹ֔רyou will gather
teegorH103 →
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תֹאכְלֶ֖נּוּit will eat it
tokhelenuH398 →810 times
הַתֹּלָֽעַת׃the worm[s]
hatolaatH8438 →
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
Jonah 4:7When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
it leads to
- Joel 1:12
The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.
- Psalms 90:5–6
You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- Job 1:21
saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Psalms 102:10
because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
- Joel 1:12
Through
Isaiah 5:10For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:26
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Haggai 1:6
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
- Haggai 2:16
from 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.
- Haggai 1:9–11
You 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…
- Leviticus 26:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on 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.