I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
- BSB I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against 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 shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
- Isa 24:17–18Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
- Ps 7:12–13If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
- Lev 26:24Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
- Deut 28:15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
- Lam 3:13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
- Ezek 14:21For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
- Lev 26:18And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
- Matt 24:7–8For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
- Jer 15:2–3And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
- Isa 26:15Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
- Deut 29:21And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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.