Deuteronomy 28:22-24

28:22 He ¹  will afflict you with weakness, ²  fever, inflammation, infection, ³  sword, ⁴  blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The ⁵  sky ⁶  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 28:38-40

The Curse of Reversed Status

28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. ⁷ 

[28:22]  ¹ tn Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:22]  ² tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).

[28:22]  ³ tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”

[28:22]  ⁴ tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:23]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

[28:23]  ⁶ tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:40]  ⁷ tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.