Deuteronomy 28:21
The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess.
The LORD
This phrase refers to Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel. In Hebrew, "Yahweh" is the personal name of God, emphasizing His eternal existence and faithfulness. The use of "The LORD" here underscores the divine authority and sovereignty of God over the nation of Israel. It is a reminder of the covenant relationship between God and His people, where blessings and curses are contingent upon their obedience or disobedience.

will make
This phrase indicates a divine action or intervention. In the Hebrew context, it reflects God's active role in the lives of His people. The verb suggests not just a passive allowance but an intentional act of God. It serves as a warning that God is not indifferent to the actions of His people; rather, He is deeply involved and will respond to their faithfulness or lack thereof.

the pestilence
"Pestilence" refers to a deadly epidemic or disease. In the ancient Near Eastern context, pestilence was often seen as a divine punishment. The Hebrew word used here, "deber," is frequently associated with divine judgment. This reflects the seriousness of the consequences of disobedience to God's commandments, as pestilence would have been a devastating and feared calamity in ancient times.

cling to you
The phrase "cling to you" suggests a persistent and inescapable affliction. The Hebrew root "dabaq" conveys the idea of something that adheres closely or tenaciously. This imagery highlights the severity and relentlessness of the judgment that would befall Israel if they turned away from God. It serves as a stark warning of the consequences of breaking the covenant.

until He has exterminated you
This phrase speaks to the ultimate consequence of continued disobedience—complete destruction. The Hebrew word "shamad" means to annihilate or destroy utterly. It underscores the seriousness of the covenant curses and the extent of divine judgment. This is not merely a temporary setback but a total removal from the blessings of the land.

from the land
The "land" refers to the Promised Land, a central theme in the covenant between God and Israel. It is the inheritance promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The land is not just a physical territory but a symbol of God's promise and blessing. Being removed from the land signifies a loss of divine favor and the breaking of the covenant relationship.

that you are entering to possess
This phrase highlights the imminent fulfillment of God's promise to give Israel the land. The Hebrew word "yarash" means to inherit or take possession. It reflects the transition from promise to reality, as the Israelites stand on the brink of entering the land. However, it also serves as a reminder that possession of the land is conditional upon obedience to God's commandments. The opportunity to possess the land comes with the responsibility to live according to God's laws.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is both just and merciful. He is the one who enacts blessings and curses based on Israel's obedience or disobedience.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who are receiving the Law and covenant stipulations through Moses. They are on the brink of entering the Promised Land.

3. Promised Land (Canaan)
The land promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land of blessing, contingent upon Israel's faithfulness to God's commands.

4. Moses
The prophet and leader of Israel, delivering God's laws and warnings to the people before they enter the Promised Land.

5. Plague
A form of divine judgment that God warns will come upon Israel if they disobey His commandments. It symbolizes the severe consequences of turning away from God.
Teaching Points
The Seriousness of Disobedience
The verse highlights the severe consequences of turning away from God's commandments. It serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of obedience in our relationship with God.

God's Sovereignty and Justice
God's ability to bring about both blessings and curses underscores His sovereignty. He is just in His dealings, rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience.

The Call to Repentance
While the verse speaks of judgment, it also implicitly calls for repentance. God's warnings are meant to lead His people back to Him, emphasizing His desire for restoration.

The Importance of Covenant Faithfulness
The covenant relationship between God and His people requires faithfulness. This verse reminds us of the blessings tied to obedience and the curses tied to disobedience.

Application to Modern Believers
While the specific curses of Deuteronomy 28 were directed at Israel, the principle of reaping what we sow remains relevant. Believers today are called to live in obedience to God's Word, understanding that our actions have consequences.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the context of Deuteronomy 28:21 help us grasp the seriousness of God's warnings to Israel?

2. In what ways can we see the principles of blessings and curses from Deuteronomy 28 reflected in the New Testament teachings?

3. How does the concept of covenant faithfulness in Deuteronomy 28 apply to our relationship with God today?

4. What are some modern "plagues" or consequences that might result from turning away from God's commandments in our lives?

5. How can we, as believers, encourage one another to remain faithful and obedient to God's Word in light of the warnings found in Deuteronomy 28?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 26
This chapter also outlines blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, emphasizing the covenant relationship between God and Israel.

Exodus 15:26
God promises healing and protection from diseases if Israel listens to His voice and keeps His commandments, contrasting with the warning in Deuteronomy 28:21.

2 Chronicles 7:13-14
God speaks of sending plagues as a consequence of sin but also offers a path to restoration through repentance and prayer.

Jeremiah 29:17-19
The prophet Jeremiah warns of plagues as a consequence of Israel's persistent disobedience, reinforcing the message of Deuteronomy 28.
The Nemesis of DisloyaltyD. Davies Deuteronomy 28:15-44
The CurseJ. Orr Deuteronomy 28:15-48
A Nation Becoming a BeaconR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 28:15-68
People
Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt
Topics
Cause, Cleave, Cling, Consume, Consumed, Cut, Death, Destroyed, Disease, Diseases, Entering, Goest, Ground, Pestilence, Possess, Possession, Till, Whither
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 28:21

     4208   land, divine responsibility

Deuteronomy 28:15-21

     4029   world, human beings in

Deuteronomy 28:15-24

     5295   destruction
     9210   judgment, God's

Deuteronomy 28:15-42

     5825   cruelty, God's attitude

Deuteronomy 28:15-68

     5827   curse
     6026   sin, judgment on
     7520   dispersion, the

Deuteronomy 28:20-24

     4843   plague
     8735   evil, origins of

Deuteronomy 28:21-25

     1349   covenant, at Sinai

Library
A Choice of Masters
'Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies ... in want of all things: and He shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until He have destroyed thee.'--DEUT. xxviii. 47, 48 The history of Israel is a picture on the large scale of what befalls every man. A service--we are all born to obedience, to depend on and follow some person or thing. There is only a choice of services; and
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Blessing and Cursing
(Preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, Ash Wednesday, 1860.) Deuteronomy xxviii. 15. 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. Many good people are pained by the Commination Service which we have just heard read. They dislike to listen to it. They cannot say 'Amen' to its awful words. It seems to them
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons

Strength Profaned and Lost
'But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. 22, Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sin of Unbelief
However, the lord on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We hear not that any of the common people, the plebeians, ever did so; but an aristocrat did it. Strange it is, that God has seldom chosen the great men of this world. High places and faith in Christ do seldom well agree. This great man said, "Impossible!" and, with an insult to the prophet, he added, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be." His sin lay in the fact, that after repeated seals of Elisha's
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Promises and Threatenings
'And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do. 2. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Secondly, for Thy Words.
1. Remember, that thou must answer for every idle word, that in multiloquy, the wisest man shall overshoot himself. Avoid, therefore, all tedious and idle talk, from which seldom arises comfort, many times repentance: especially beware of rash answers, when the tongue outruns the mind. The word was thine whilst thou didst keep it in; it is another's as soon as it is out. O the shame, when a man's own tongue shall be produced a witness, to the confusion of his own face! Let, then, thy words be few,
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Vehicles of Revelation; Scripture, the Church, Tradition.
(a) The supreme and unique revelation of God to man is in the Person of the Incarnate Son. But though unique the Incarnation is not solitary. Before it there was the divine institution of the Law and the Prophets, the former a typical anticipation (de Incarn. 40. 2) of the destined reality, and along with the latter (ib. 12. 2 and 5) for all the world a holy school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the soul.' After it there is the history of the life and teaching of Christ and the writings
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

The Third Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.' Exod 20: 7. This commandment has two parts: 1. A negative expressed, that we must not take God's name in vain; that is, cast any reflections and dishonour on his name. 2. An affirmative implied. That we should take care to reverence and honour his name. Of this latter I shall speak more fully, under the first petition in the Lord's Prayer, Hallowed be thy name.' I shall
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

That Whereas the City of Jerusalem had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, this was the Second Time of Its Desolation. A Brief Account of Its History.
1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been taken five [34] times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years and
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

The Second Coming of Christ.
^A Matt. XXIV. 29-51; ^B Mark XIII. 24-37; ^C Luke XXI. 25-36. ^b 24 But in those days, ^a immediately after the { ^b that} ^a tribulation of those days. [Since the coming of Christ did not follow close upon the destruction of Jerusalem, the word "immediately" used by Matthew is somewhat puzzling. There are, however, three ways in which it may be explained: 1. That Jesus reckons the time after his own divine, and not after our human, fashion. Viewing the word in this light, the passage at II. Pet.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Paul's Departure and Crown;
OR, AN EXPOSITION UPON 2 TIM. IV. 6-8 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR How great and glorious is the Christian's ultimate destiny--a kingdom and a crown! Surely it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what ear never heard, nor mortal eye ever saw? the mansions of the blest--the realms of glory--'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' For whom can so precious an inheritance be intended? How are those treated in this world who are entitled to so glorious, so exalted, so eternal,
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Writings of St. Ambrose.
The extant writings of St. Ambrose may be divided under six heads. I. Dogmatic; II. Exegetic; III. Moral; IV. Sermons; V. Letters; VI. A few Hymns. I. Dogmatic and Controversial Works. 1. De Fide. The chief of these are the Five Books on the Faith, of which the two first were written in compliance with a request of the Emperor Gratian, a.d. 378. Books III.-V. were written in 379 or 380, and seem to have been worked up from addresses delivered to the people [V. prol. 9, 11; III. 143; IV. 119]. This
St. Ambrose—Works and Letters of St. Ambrose

Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

The Hindrances to Mourning
What shall we do to get our heart into this mourning frame? Do two things. Take heed of those things which will stop these channels of mourning; put yourselves upon the use of all means that will help forward holy mourning. Take heed of those things which will stop the current of tears. There are nine hindrances of mourning. 1 The love of sin. The love of sin is like a stone in the pipe which hinders the current of water. The love of sin makes sin taste sweet and this sweetness in sin bewitches the
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold.
^A Matt. XXIV. 1-28; ^B Mark XIII. 1-23; ^C Luke XXI. 5-24. ^a 1 And Jesus went out from the temple [leaving it to return no more], and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him ^b as he went forth ^a to show him the buildings of the temple. ^b one of his disciples saith unto him, Teacher, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! ^c 5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said [The strength and wealth of the temple roused
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

In Death and after Death
A sadder picture could scarcely be drawn than that of the dying Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, that "light of Israel" immediately before and after the destruction of the Temple, and for two years the president of the Sanhedrim. We read in the Talmud (Ber. 28 b) that, when his disciples came to see him on his death-bed, he burst into tears. To their astonished inquiry why he, "the light of Israel, the right pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer," betrayed such signs of fear, he replied: "If I were
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
The duty of Covenanting is founded on the law of nature; but it also stands among the arrangements of Divine mercy made from everlasting. The promulgation of the law, enjoining it on man in innocence as a duty, was due to God's necessary dominion over the creatures of his power. The revelation of it as a service obligatory on men in a state of sin, arose from his unmerited grace. In the one display, we contemplate the authority of the righteous moral Governor of the universe; in the other, we see
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf.
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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