He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.
Parallel translations
- WEB then Yahweh will make your plagues fearful, and the plagues of your offspring, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration.
- KJV Then 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.
- NKJV then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
- NASB then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
- NLT then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick.
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
God will send extraordinary, lasting plagues on a disobedient people and their descendants. Persistent rebellion brings prolonged and severe affliction.
Overview
Moses warns that covenant-breaking invites afflictions of unusual severity and duration, reaching even to future generations. The language echoes the plagues of Egypt, now threatened against Israel itself if it acts like Egypt in unbelief. The passage underscores the seriousness of sin and the mercy of the gospel, in which Christ bears the curse so that the believing need not.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Mark 13:19For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
- 1 Kgs 9:7–9then 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 object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.
- Deut 29:20–28The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
- Lam 4:12The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
- Deut 31:17–18On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
- Lam 1:9Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
- Hos 3:4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- Lam 1:12Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
- Deut 28:46These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever.
- Deut 32:22For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- Dan 9:12You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
- Deut 32:26I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
- 1 Kgs 16:3–4So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 28:59 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.