Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Parallel translations
- WEB The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed.
- BSB The 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.
- NKJV “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
- NASB “Cursed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.
- NLT Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Children, crops, and livestock, once fruitful, will instead be cursed with barrenness.
Overview
The blessing of fertility in verse 4 is here reversed into loss and decline. Disobedience touches family, field, and flock with futility. This sobering picture shows that life apart from God's favor cannot flourish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 26:26And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
- Ps 109:9–15Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- Deut 28:16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
- Deut 28:4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
- Job 18:16–19His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
- Lev 26:19–20And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
- Hab 3:17Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
- Deut 5:9Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
- Lam 2:20Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Lam 2:11–12Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
- Hos 9:11–14As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
- Mal 2:3Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
- Luke 23:29–30For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 28:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.