He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
Parallel translations
- WEB He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
- BSB He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
- NKJV He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
- NASB He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.
- NLT They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!
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
The foreigner will lend to Israel and be the head, while Israel becomes the borrowing tail.
Overview
This directly reverses the blessings of verses 12 and 13. Economic dependence and subjection replace the leadership God had promised. The complete inversion shows how thoroughly disobedience undoes God's intended order.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Deut 28:12–13The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
- Lam 1:5Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 28:44 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.