And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
Parallel translations
- WEB They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever.
- BSB These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever.
- NKJV And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
- NASB And they will become a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.
- NLT These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever.
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
These curses will stand as a lasting sign and warning to Israel and their descendants.
Overview
The judgments serve a teaching purpose, marking the seriousness of the covenant for generations. They become enduring testimony to God's faithfulness to his word, in warning as well as promise. This perpetual sign calls later generations to fear God and obey.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 8:18Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
- Deut 28:37And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
- Ezek 14:8And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
- Jer 25:18To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
- Jer 19:8And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
- Deut 28:59Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
- Deut 29:20The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
- Deut 29:28And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
- 1 Cor 10:11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
- Ezek 23:32–33Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
- Ezek 36:20And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
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 28:46 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.