I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
- KJV I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
- NKJV ‘I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them.
- NASB ¶‘I will add misfortunes to them; I will use up My arrows on them.
- NLT I will heap disasters upon them and shoot them down with my arrows.
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 declares He will heap disasters on them and spend His arrows against them. It matters because it announces the certainty and severity of coming judgment.
Overview
The 'arrows' picture God's varied and inescapable instruments of judgment, detailed in the verses that follow. The piling up of calamities reflects the weight of Israel's accumulated sin. This warning of judgment underscores the seriousness of forsaking God and points to the deliverance found only in the One who shields His people from wrath.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ezek 5:16When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.
- Isa 24:17–18Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
- Ps 7:12–13If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- Lev 26:24then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
- Deut 28:15If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Lam 3:13He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
- Ezek 14:21For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?
- Lev 26:18And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins.
- Matt 24:7–8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
- Jer 15:2–3If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’
- Isa 26:15You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the land.
- Deut 29:21and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 32:23 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.