22 " The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew , and they will pursue you until you perish . 23 "The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze , and the earth which is under you, iron . 24 " The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust ; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed . 25 " The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies ; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth . 26 " Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth , and there will be no one to frighten them away . 27 " The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch , from which you cannot e be healed . 28 "The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart ; 29 and you will grope at noon , as the blind man gropes in darkness , and you will not prosper in your ways ; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually e , with none to save you. 30 " You shall betroth a wife , but another man will violate her; you shall build a house , but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard , but you will not use its fruit . 31 "Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes , but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies , and you will have none to save you. 32 " Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people , while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually e ; but there will be nothing you can do . 33 " A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors , and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually e . 34 "You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see . 35 " The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils , from which you cannot e be healed , from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head . 36 " The Lord will bring you and your king , whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known , and there you shall serve other gods , wood and stone . 37 " You shall become a horror , a proverb , and a taunt among all the people where e the Lord drives you. 38 " You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little , for the locust will consume it. 39 " You shall plant and cultivate vineyards , but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them. 40 " You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil , for your olives will drop off . 41 " You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity . 42 " The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:22-42
Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:15-44
(Read Deuteronomy 28:15-44)
If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.