J³ M¹ v¹ 1-4. Divorce. w¹ 5. Remarriage. x¹ 6. Pledge. M² v² 7. Slavery. w² 8,9. Leprosy. x² 10-13. Pledge. M³ v³ 14,15. Service. w² 16. Punishments. x² 17,18. Pledge.1452 B.C.
5: When a man has taken a new wife (cp. 20:7), he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he has taken.
6: No man shall take a millstone or the upper millstone to pledge (hand mills found in every home. Corn groud daily): for he takes a man's life to pledge (Heb. kabal = something tied up with a cord, hence the term bond [= bound]. Cp. Ex.22:26 [transferred to the person so bound]. Cp. vv.10-13).
7: If a man be found stealing any (Heb. nephesh = soul. Cp.Ex.21:16) of his brethren of the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him; then that thief shall die; and you shall put evil away from among you.
8: Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so you all shall observe to do.
9: Remember what the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) did to Miriam by the way (cp. Num.12:10), after that you all were come forth out of Egypt.
10: When you do lend your neighhbor any thing (cp. Ex.22:25-27), you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge (Heb. ‘abôt = a security. Not the same word in vv.10,11,12,13 as in vv.6 and 17).
11: You shall stand abroad, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring out the security abroad to you.
12: And if the man be poor, you shall not sleep with his security:
13: In any case you shall deliver him the security again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own clothing (the mantle givn to this day; not only for debt, but as a token that a buisness promise will be kept), and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
14: You shall not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy (= defraud, cp. Lev.19:13), whether he be of your brethren, or of your strangers that are in thy land within your gates:
15: At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it (cp. James 5:4); for he is poor, and sets (= and he lifts up) his heart upon it (= his soul): lest he cry against you to the Lord (Yehovah), and it be sin to you.
16: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children (this is the Lord's (Yehovah's) law for man. His own right of judgment remains. Cp. 2 Kings 14:6. 2 Chron.25:4), neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
17: You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing to pledge:
18: But you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) redeemed you from that place: therefore I command you to do this thing.
K³ N¹ y¹ 19-. Harvest. Wheat. z¹ -19-. Prohibition. a¹ -19. Reason. N² y² 20-. Harvest. Olives. z² -20-. Prohibition. a² -20. Reason. N³ y³ 21-. Harvest. Grapes. z³ -21-. Prohibition. a³ -21. Reason.
19: When you cut down you harvest in your field (put for "corn"), and have forgot a sheaf in the field,
you shall not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow (not the tramp, or ne'er-do-well, or the drunkard. And in kind, not money):
that the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20: When you beat your olive tree,
you shall not go over the boughs again:
it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
21: When you gather the grapes of your vineyard,
you shall not glean it afterward:
it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
22: And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command you to do this thing.
4: You shall not muzzle the ox when he tread out the corn. (Animals generally muzzled in the East. Cp. 1 Cor.9:9. 1 Tim.5:18)
J5 b 5-10. Injustice re Seed. c 11,12. Unfairness re Striving. b 13-16. Injustice re Dealing.
b O¹ d¹ 5-. Case. Refusal. e¹ -5. Command. f¹ 6. Result. Succession. O² d² 7-. Case. Refusal. e² -7. Declaration. f² 8-. Result. Remonstrance. O³ d³ -8. Case. Persistence. e³ 9. Action. f³ 10. Result. Stigma.
5: If brethren dwell together (Cp. Gen.38:8. Ruth 4:5 &c. Matt.22:24. Mark 12:19. Luke 20:28), and one of them die, and have no child,
the wife of the dead shall not marry outside to a stranger (= foriegner): her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
6: And it shall be, that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be blotted out of Israel.
7: And if the man like not to take his brother's wife (Cp. Ruth 3:12,13; 4:5,6),
then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.’
8: Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him:
and if he stand to it, and say, ‘I like not to take her;’
9: Then shall his brother's wife come to him in the presence of the elders (Cp. Ruth 4:11), and loose his sandal from off his foot (Cp. Ruth 4:7,8), and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to that man that will not build up his brother's house.’
10: And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that has his sandal loosed.
11: When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smites him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the secrets:
12: Then You shall cut off her hand, your eye shall not pity her.
13: You shall not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small.
14: You shall not have in thine house different measures, a great and a small (Cp. Lev.19:35,36. Prov.11:1; 20:10).
15: But you shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall you have: that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you.
16: For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
17: Remember (Cp. Ex.17:8-16. An event ordered to be writtin down) what Amalek did to you by the way (Fig., name of a man put for his posterity), when you all were come forth out of Egypt;
18: How he met you by the way, and smote the hindmost of you, even all that were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not God (Elohim).
19: Therefore it shall be, when Yehovah your Elohim has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out (Fulfilled in the tie of Esther in 462 B.C. Beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's madness) the remembrance (Heb. zekar, not zåkar = males; as Joab seems to have understood it in 1 Kings 11:1516) of Amalek from under heaven (Cp. 1 Sam.15:2,3. Num.24:20); you shall not forget it.
S³ P¹ 1-11. Basket of firstfruits. P² 12-15. Tithes.
P¹ Q g 1. Inheritance possessed. h 2-5-. Command. R i -5. Unworthiness of grace. k 6. Egypt. Bondage. l 7-. Cry made. R l -7. Cry heard. k 8. Egypt. Deliverance. i 9. Grace for the unworthy. Q h 10. Obedience. g 11. Inheritance enjoyed.
2: That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth (Heb. = ground, or soil, ’adåmah), which you shall bring of your land that the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you, and shall put it in a woven basket, and shall go to the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) shall choose to place His name there (= to cause to dwell).
3: And you shall go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), that I am come to the country which Yehovah swore to our fathers for to give us.’
4: And the priest shall take the woven basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
5: And you shall speak and say before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) (Note the Idiom, generally rendered "answer and say", where the first verb must always be rendered accoding to the context. Here, "confess and say"),
‘A Syrian perishing was my father (= an Aramaen, i.e. Job. For perising, comare Gen. 42:1,2), and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
6: And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
7: And when we cried to Yehvah Elohim of our fathers (see Ex.2:23-25; 3:7 &c. Ps.107:6 and cp. Josh.24:7. Judg.4:3; 10:12. 2 Chron.13:14. Neh.9:27 and Ps.107:8,28),
Yehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
8: And the Lord (Yehovah) brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
9: And He has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey.
10: And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the ground (or soil), which You, O Lord (Yehovah), have given me’. And you shall set it before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), and worship before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim):
11: And you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.
P² m 12-. Tithes gathered. n -12,13. Duly appropriated (positive). n 14. Duly appropriated (negative). m 15. Prayer offered.
12: When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year (= carefully and completely tithed your increase. Cp. 14:28,29), which is the year of tithing,
and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled;
13: Then you shall say before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), ‘I have brought away the holy (= set apart, see Ex.3:5) things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me: I have not transgressed (= passed over, Heb. ‘åbar) Your commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
14: I have not eaten thereof in my mourning (= suffering. Heb. ’åvon, a Homonym: here = suffering, or sorrow [as in Gen.35:18, and Hos.9:4],but = might in Gen.49:3. Deut.21:17. Job 31:25), neither have I taken away anything thereof for any unclean use, nor given anything thereof for the dead (Probably = defilement for touching a dead body): but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) my God (Elohim), and have done according to all that You have commanded me.
15: Look down from Your set apart habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, according as You swore to our fathers, a land (Heb. ’erez, the land of Canaan) that flows with milk and honey.’
t o 16. Command. p 17. Yehovah avouched by people. p 18,19-. People avouched by Yehovah. o -19. Purpose.
16: This day the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has commanded you to do these ordinances and duties and punishments (see 4:1): you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.
17: You have avouched (= avowed) the Lord (Yehovah) this day to be your God (Elohim), and (note the Polysyndeton vv.17-19 ) to walk in His ways, and to keep His ordinances, and His commandments, and His duties and punishments, and to listen to His voice:
18: And the Lord (Yehovah) has avowed you this day to be his peculiar people (as a treasure. Cp. 7:6, and see Ex.19:5), as He has promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments;
19: And to make you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, and in name, and in honour;
and that you may be a set apart people to Yehovah your Elohim, according as He has spoken.
u q 1. Command. r s 2-. Passage of Jordan. t -2,3. Sacred stones. r s 4-. Passage of Jordan. t -4-8. Sacred stones. q 9,10. Command.
2: And it shall be in the day when you all shall pass over Jordan to the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you,
that you shall set you up great stones (i.e. rough and unhewn. Cp. Ex.20:25), and plaister them with plaister (= gypsum, a hard white cement):
3: And you shall write upon them (see Ex.17:14. Cp. Josh.8:30-32) all the words of this law (i.e. which follows, namely the blessings and the curses), when you are passed over, that you may go in to the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you, a land that flows with milk and honey; according as the Lord God (Yehovah Elohim) of your fathers have promised you.
4: Therefore it shall be when you all are gone over Jordan,
that you all shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal (The stones, therefore carried there from Jordan. Ebal = heeps), and you shall plaister them with plaister.
5: And there shall you build an altar to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), an altar of stones: you shall not lift up any iron tool upon them (Probably a technical name for a chisel, as we now associate it with a laundry or a prison).
6: You shall build the altar of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) of whole stones: and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim):
7: And you shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
8: And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” (A usefull hint for us = plainly and well)
9: And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed (= keep silence, or, take note), and listen, O Israel; this day you are become the people of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
10: You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), and do His commandments and His ordinances, which I command you this day.”
d S¹ 11-13. Arrangement of tribes. S² 14-26. Curses.
S¹ u 11,12-. On Gerizim to bless. v -12. Tribes detailed. u 13-. On Ebal to curse. v -13. Tribes detailed.
11: And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12: “These shall stand upon mount Gerizim (Heb. = cut up, rocky) to bless the people, when you all are come over Jordan;
Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
13: And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse;
Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
14: And the Levites shall speak, and say (Note the Idiom, usually rendered in N.T. "answer, and say". The first verb is to be rendered according to the context. Here = "curse and say") to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
15: ‘Cursed (Fig. Anaphora = like sentance beginnings, the repition of the same word at the beginning of successive sentences. This word is repeated 12 times. The number 12 represents Governmental completeness) be the man that makes any graven or molten image (=sculpture, cp. 4:23. Lev.19:4), (which is) an abomination to Yehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ (= that's the way it is. Note each verse ending with the same word)
16: ‘Cursed be he that sets light by his father or his mother’ (= curses. See Ex.21:17. Lev.19:3). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
17: ‘Cursed be he that removes his neighbour's landmark’ (cp. 19:14). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
18: ‘Cursed be he that makes <>the blind to wander out of the way’ (cp. Lev.19:14). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
19: ‘Cursed be he that perverts the judgment of the stranger (= foreigner), fatherless, and widow (these 3 put for all kinds of afflicted). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
20: ‘Cursed be he that lies with his father's wife (Cp. 22:30. Lev.18:8; 20:11); because he uncovers his father's skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
21: ‘Cursed be he that lies with any manner of beast’ (cp.Ex.22:19. Lev.18:23). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
22: ‘Cursed be he that lies with his sister (cp. Lev.18:9; 20:17), the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
23: ‘Cursed be he that lies with his mother in law’ (cp. Lev.18:17; 20:14). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
24: ‘Cursed be he that smites his neighbour secretly’(cp. Ex.21:12). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
25: ‘Cursed be he that takes reward (= bribe) to slay an innocent person’(cp. 10:17; 16:19. Ex.23:7,8. Ps.15:5). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
26: ‘Cursed be he that confirms not all the words of this law to do them’ (cp. 28:1,15. Jer.11:3-5. Gal.3:10). And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
c T¹ 1-14. Blessings. T² 15-68. Curses.
T¹ w 1-. Obedience. x -1,2-. Blessings (general). w -2. Obedience. x 3-14. Blessings (particular).
that the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) will set you on high above all nations of the earth (see 26:19):
2: And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you,
if you shall listen to the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
3: Blessed (6 "blessed's", 6 = the number of man) shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4: Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your kine, and the flocks of your sheep.
5: Blessed shall be your basket (Fig., put for its contents) and your store (= kneading-troughs, put for the dough in them).
6: Blessed shall you be when you come in (Idiom for life in general. Cp. Ps.121:8), and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7: Yehovah shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.
8: The Lord (Yehovah) shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouses (= barns. Heb. ’åsam. Occ. only here and Ps.121:8), and in all that you set your hands to (= let your hands go forth. Fig., put for all that is wrought by it); and He shall bless you in the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you.
9: The Lord (Yehovah) shall establish you as a holy (= set apart, see Ex.3:5) people to Himself, according as He has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the Lord (Yehovah), and walk in His ways.
10: And all Peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yehovah (today we are called Christians); and they shall be afraid of you.
11: And the Lord (Yehovah) shall make you plenteous in goods (= for good, or in hat which is good), in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your soil, on the soil which the Lord (Yehovah) swore to your fathers to give you.
12: The Lord (Yehovah) shall open to you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in his season (cp. 11:4), and to bless all the work of your hands: and you shall lend to many nations (cp. 15:6 and Prov.22:7), and you shall not borrow.
13: And the Lord (Yehovah) shall make you the head, and not the tail (Fig., for great emphasis); and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath (see note above); if that you listen to the commandments of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), which I command you this day, to observe and to do them:
14: And you shall not go aside from any of the words which I command you this day (Cp. 17:11,20. Prov.4:27), to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
T² y 15-. Disobedience. z -15-57. Curses. y 58. Disobedience. z 59-68. Curses.
15: But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), to observe to do all His commandments and His ordinances (see 4:1) which I command you this day; (Compare this with today. Do you know of anytime in history were there is more Biblical illeteracy or disobeying God's commands than there is today?)
that all these curses shall come upon you (6 curses. #6 = the number of Satin), and overtake you:
16: Cursed shall you be in the city (Can you walk safely down the streets today?), and cursed shall you be in the field (see Isa.).
17: Cursed shall be your basket and your store (How many croceries can you buy for $1.00? (plus tax)).
18: Cursed shall be the fruit of your body (your children if they don't know God's Word), and the fruit of your land (cp. what happened to Job when Satin was allowed to try to take him away from God), the increase of your kine, and the flocks of your sheep.
19: Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out (Heb. Idiom for life in general. It will seem like you can't win. Right is wrong and wrong is right ).
20: The Lord (Yehovah) shall send upon you cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that you set your hand to for to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, whereby you have forsaken Me.
21: The Lord (Yehovah) shall make the pestilence cleave to you (probably true Oriental plague), until He have consumed you from off the soil, to which place you go to possess it.
22: The Lord (Yehovah) shall smite you with a consumption (probably tuberculosis), and with a fever (probablya continued fever of some kind), and with an inflammation (probably the rigor and heat of malarial intermittant fever), and with an extreme burning (probably prickly heat), and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish.
23: And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron.
24: The Lord (Yehovah) shall make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon you, until you are destroyed.
25: The Lord (Yehovah) shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies (Note the fulfilment of vv.25,37,46,48,49,50,52,62, reaching down to present day): you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
26: And your carcase shall be meat to all fowls of the air (Septuagint, hoi nekroi, with article, denoting corpses as didtinct from the people who are dead), and to the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten them away.
27: The Lord (Yehovah) will smite you with the botch of Egypt (= elephantitis), and with the hemroids, and with the scab (=aggravated psoriasis), and with the itch (= prurigo. Heb. word means to scrape), whereof you can not be healed.
28: The Lord (Yehovah) shall smite you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29: And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save you.
30: You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her (Heb. Euphemism for "ravish"): you shall build an house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes thereof.
31: Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat thereof: your ass shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to rescue them.
32: Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no power in your hands.
33: The fruit of your land, and all your labours (Fig. put for the result or fruit of them), shall a nation which you know not eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always:
34: So that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
35: The Lord (Yehovah) shall smite you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36: The Lord (Yehovah) shall bring you, and your king which you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there shall you serve other gods, wood and stone.
37: And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations (= peoples. Cp. 1 Kings 9:8. Ps.44:13,14) to which pace Yehovah shall lead you.
38: You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it (Heb. ’arbeh. Used of the Egyptian plague. Ex.10:4 &c. Cp. v.42).
39: You shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40: You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders (or confines), but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive shall cast his fruit.
41: You shall beget sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
42: All your trees and fruit of your land shall the locust consume (= grasshopper. Heb. zelåzel, from the noise of its wings).
43: The stranger that is within you shall get up above you very high; and you shall come down very low (Cp. Isa.26:3 &c.).
44: He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45: Moreover all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, till you be destroyed; because you listened not to the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), to keep His commandments and His ordinances which He commanded you:
46: And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and upon your seed for ever (Fig. The whole of time put for a part of it).
47: Because you served not the Lord (Yehovah) yourGod (Elohim) with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48: Therefore shall you serve your enemies which the Lord (Yehovah) shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and He shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck (Fig., put for a heavy yoke or grevious bondage), until He has destroyed you.
49: The Lord (Yehovah) shall bring a nation against you from far (The judgments that follow are for "the Jew [here Israelites] first", but lso for the Gentile. Cp. Isa.13:9. Rom.2:7-10), from the end of the earth, according as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand (Heb. "hear", put for understanding);
50: A nation of fierce countenance (Heb. = strong of face: "strong" put by Fig., for boldness of fierceness), which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
51: And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed: which also shall not leave you either corn, wine (Heb. tîrôsh. Some codices read "or new wine"), or oil, or the increase of your kine, or flocks of your sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
52: And he shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fenced walls come down, wherein you trusted, throughout all your land: and he shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has given you.
53: And you shall eat the fruit of your own body (Cp. Jer.19:9), the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has given you, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith your enemies shall distress you:
54: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:
55: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he has nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith your enemies shall distress you in all your gates.
56: The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure (Old English Idiom for "venture to go") to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
57: And toward her young one that comes out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith your enemy shall distress you in your gates.
58: If You will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book (see Ex.17:14, and cp. v.61 below), that you may revere this glorious and fearful name (Fig., put for Him Who bears it), THE LORD YOUR GOD (YEHOVAH ELOHIM);
59: Then the Lord (Yehovah) will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
60: Moreover He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you.
61: Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in this book of this law (Cp. v.58. Deut.29:21; 30:10. 2 Kings 22:13 and Ex.17:14), them will Yehovah bring upon you, until you are destroyed.
62: And you all shall be left few in number, whereas you all were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of Yehovah your Elohim.
63: And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord (Yehovah) rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so Yehovah will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nothing; and you all shall be plucked from off the land to which place you go to possess it.
64: And the Lord (Yehovah) shall scatter you among all people (= all kinds of peoples), from the one end of the earth even to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, even wood and stone.
65: And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the Lord (Yehovah) shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind (Heb. soul):
66: And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night (Cp. Job 23:15. This word is a Homonym. See Isa.60:5), and shall have none assurance of your life:
67: In the morning you shall say, ‘Would God (Elohim) it were evening!’ (Fig. Eucke, or Prayer. An expression of feeling by way of prayer, curse, or imprecation) and at evening you shall say, ‘Would God (Elohim) it were morning!’ for the fear of your heart wherewith you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
68: And the Lord (Yehovah) shall bring you into Egypt again (So Hos.8:13; 9:3. May be put by Fig., for servitude) with ships (2nd occ. in O.T. See Gen.49:13), by the way whereof I spoke to you, ‘You shall see it no more again: and there you all shall be put up for sale to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” (This is the end of Moses' 5th address. See 1:6)