Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God promises many good things to the Hebrews if they keep His law. Then, from verse 15, He threatens them with very many evils if they violate it.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 28:1-68
1. But if you hear the voice of the Lord your God, so as to do and keep all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will make you higher than all the nations that are upon the earth. 2. And all these blessings shall come upon you, and overtake you: if however you hear His precepts. 3. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field. 4. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the herds of your oxen, and the folds of your sheep. 5. Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your stores. 6. Blessed shall you be coming in and going out. 7. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to fall before you: by one way they shall come against you, and by seven ways they shall flee from your face. 8. The Lord will send His blessing upon your storehouses, and upon all the works of your hands: and He will bless you in the land you have received. 9. The Lord will raise you up as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you: if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invoked upon you, and they shall fear you. 11. The Lord will make you abound in all good things, in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12. The Lord will open His best treasury, heaven, to give rain to your land in its season, and will bless all the works of your hands. And you will lend to many nations, and you yourself will borrow from no one. 13. The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail: and you will always be above, and not beneath: 14. if however you hear the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today, and keep and do them, and turn not aside from them to the right or to the left, nor follow other gods and serve them. 15. But if you will not hear the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all His commandments and ceremonies which I command you today, all these curses shall come upon you, and overtake you. 16. Cursed shall you be in the city, cursed in the field. 17. Cursed shall be your barn, and cursed your stores. 18. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the folds of your sheep. 19. Cursed shall you be coming in, and cursed going out. 20. The Lord will send upon you famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which you do: until He consume and destroy you quickly, because of your most wicked inventions by which you have forsaken Me. 21. May the Lord set the pestilence upon you, until He consume you out of the land which you shall enter to possess. 22. May the Lord strike you with want, with fever and cold, with burning and heat, and with corrupted air and blight, and pursue you till you perish. 23. Let the heaven that is over you be bronze, and the earth you tread upon, iron. 24. May the Lord give you dust for rain upon your land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon you, till you are consumed. 25. May the Lord make you fall before your enemies: by one way may you go out against them, and by seven flee, and be scattered through all the kingdoms of the earth. 26. And may your carcass be food for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and may there be none to drive them away. 27. May the Lord strike you with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of your body by which the dung is cast out with the scab and with the itch: so that you cannot be healed. 28. May the Lord strike you with madness and blindness and fury of mind. 29. And may you grope at midday as the blind is accustomed to grope in darkness, and not direct your ways. And may you at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, nor have anyone to deliver you. 30. May you take a wife, and another sleep with her. May you build a house, and not dwell in it. May you plant a vineyard, and not gather the vintage of it. 31. May your ox be slain before you, and you not eat of it. May your donkey be taken away in your sight, and not restored to you. May your sheep be given to your enemies, and may there be none to help you. 32. May your sons and daughters be given to another people, your eyes looking on and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in your hand. 33. May a people whom you do not know eat the fruits of your land and all your labors: and may you always suffer wrong and be oppressed all the days of your life, 34. and be astonished at the terror of those things which your eyes shall see. 35. May the Lord strike you with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be incurable, from the sole of the foot to the top of your head. 36. The Lord will bring you, and the king whom you shall have appointed over you, to a nation which you and your fathers do not know: and there you shall serve foreign gods, wood and stone. 37. And you shall become a byword, and a fable, and an example to all peoples among whom the Lord shall bring you. 38. You shall cast much seed upon the ground, and shall gather little: because the locusts shall devour all. 39. You shall plant a vineyard and dig it, and shall not drink the wine, nor gather anything from it: because it shall be wasted with worms. 40. You shall have olive trees in all your borders, and shall not anoint yourself with oil: because the olives shall fall off and perish. 41. You shall beget sons and daughters, and shall not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity. 42. The blight shall consume all the trees and the fruits of your land. 43. The stranger who lives with you in the land shall rise up over you, and shall be higher: but you shall go down and be lower. 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. And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue and overtake you, till you perish: because you did not hear the voice of the Lord your God, nor keep His commandments and ceremonies which He commanded you. 46. And they shall be as signs and wonders on you, and on your seed forever. 47. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: 48. you shall serve the enemy whom the Lord will send upon you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon your neck, till he crush you. 49. The Lord will bring upon you a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flies with great speed, whose tongue you cannot understand: 50. a most insolent nation, that will show no deference to the aged, nor have pity on the child, 51. and will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land: until you are consumed, and will leave you no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: till he utterly destroy you. 52. And he shall besiege you in all your cities, till your high and strong walls, in which you trusted, be brought down throughout all your land. You shall be besieged within your gates in all your land which the Lord your God will give you. 53. And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, and the flesh of your sons and your daughters, which the Lord your God shall give you, in the distress and the extremity with which your enemy shall oppress you. 54. The man who is delicate among you and very luxurious shall envy his own brother, and the wife who lies in his bosom, 55. lest he give them any of the flesh of his sons which he shall eat: because he has nothing else in the siege and the want with which your enemies shall distress you within all your gates. 56. The tender and delicate woman among you, who could not walk upon the ground, nor set down her foot for excessive tenderness and softness, shall envy her own husband who lies in her bosom, over the flesh of the son and daughter, 57. and the filth of the afterbirth that comes forth from between her thighs, and the children who are born at the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress with which your enemy shall oppress you within your gates. 58. If you will not keep and do all the words of this law that are written in this book, and fear His glorious and terrible name, that is, the Lord your God: 59. the Lord shall increase your plagues, and the plagues of your seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual. 60. And He shall bring back on you all the afflictions of Egypt which you were afraid of, and they shall cleave to you. 61. Moreover the Lord will bring upon you all the diseases and plagues that are not written in the book of this law, till He consume you. 62. And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not hear the voice of the Lord your God. 63. And as before the Lord rejoiced over you, doing good to you and multiplying you: so He shall rejoice over you, destroying and overthrowing you, that you may be taken away from the land which you shall enter to possess. 64. The Lord shall scatter you among all peoples, from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there you shall serve foreign gods, which both you and your fathers do not know, wood and stone. 65. Among those nations also you shall not rest, nor shall there be any resting place for the sole of your foot. For the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a soul consumed with anguish. 66. And your life shall be as it were hanging before you. You shall fear night and day, and shall not believe in your life. 67. In the morning you shall say: Who will grant me evening? And at evening: Who will grant me morning? Because of the fear of your heart, with which you shall be terrified, and because of those things which you shall see with your eyes. 68. The Lord will bring you back by ships to Egypt, by the way of which He said to you: You should see it no more. There you shall be sold to your enemies for male and female slaves, and no one shall buy you.
Verse 1: Higher Than All Nations
1. "THE LORD WILL MAKE YOU HIGHER THAN ALL NATIONS" — so that you surpass all others in happiness, in wealth, in honor, in strength, and in dominion.
Verses 3-4: Blessed in City and Field
3. "BLESSED SHALL YOU BE IN THE CITY, AND BLESSED IN THE FIELD" — as if to say: You will abound in all necessary things, both in urban and rural affairs; for "to bless" here means to do good. For God's blessing is real, not merely verbal or courtly; and it signifies every kind of prosperity, in body, in soul, and in fortune.
4. "BLESSED SHALL BE THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB, AND THE FRUIT OF YOUR LAND" — that is, you will abound in children and in the fruits of your land, and likewise in cattle.
Verse 5: Blessed Barns and Stores
5. "BLESSED SHALL BE YOUR BARNS." — The Hebrew word tene signifies a repository, whether it be a basket, a storehouse, or a barn. The meaning therefore is: You will abound in grain and bread, so that there will be many leftovers, which you may distribute to the poor; for this is what he adds, saying: "And blessed shall be your stores"; for blessing signifies plenty and abundance, as I said on 2 Corinthians 9:6.
Verse 6: Blessed Coming In and Going Out
6. "BLESSED SHALL YOU BE COMING IN AND GOING OUT." — Your entering any place, as well as your leaving, will be happy and fortunate, because God will direct you in all things. So we see holy men directed by God in all things, and all their actions have happy outcomes, in which that verse of Psalm 1 is fulfilled: "And all things whatsoever he does shall prosper."
Verses 9-10: A Holy People
9. "THE LORD WILL RAISE YOU UP AS A HOLY PEOPLE TO HIMSELF" — as if to say: God will cause you to be and be called a holy people, God's people, and one specially devoted to Him, who in turn will defend you as His people, advance you, and make you glorious.
10. "AND ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH SHALL SEE THAT THE NAME OF THE LORD IS INVOKED UPON YOU" — as if to say: All shall see that you are called by God's name, or that you are called, and truly are, God's people, and that God shows Himself to be your God by protecting you and increasing your goods — whence all "SHALL FEAR YOU"; for this is what is signified in Scripture by "the name of someone being invoked upon another," as is clear from Sirach 36:14; Jeremiah 7:11; Baruch 2:15; Daniel 9:18, and elsewhere.
Verse 12: Heaven as God's Treasury
12. "THE LORD WILL OPEN HIS BEST TREASURY, HEAVEN, TO GIVE RAIN." — "Heaven," that is, the air, is here called the treasury of God: because in it, as in a storehouse inscrutable to us, God has stored rain, through which all the goods of the earth come forth. So the air is called the treasury of winds, Psalm 134:8: "Who brings forth winds from His treasuries."
"YOU WILL LEND TO MANY NATIONS, AND YOU YOURSELF WILL BORROW FROM NO ONE" — because you will be pressed by no necessity, since you will abound in all things at home. God does not therefore here permit or command usury, as the Jews understand. For the Hebrew word lava signifies not usury, but a loan.
Verse 13: The Head, Not the Tail
13. "THE LORD WILL MAKE YOU THE HEAD, AND NOT THE TAIL, AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ABOVE, AND NOT BENEATH" — as if to say: God will make you everywhere and always the first, not the last; ruling others, not subject to them. So Theodoret, Question 34.
Verses 15-16: Curses for Disobedience
15 and 16. "IF YOU WILL NOT HEAR THE VOICE OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, etc., CURSED SHALL YOU BE IN THE CITY, CURSED IN THE FIELD" — as if to say: You will be wretched and unhappy, and your resources, both urban and rural, will fail you. So far Moses has enumerated the good things to be given to those who keep God's law: here by antithesis he enumerates the very many evils that will befall those who violate God's law. Let preachers impress these upon sinners: for these evils bear the type and forerunner of the evils and punishments of hell.
Verse 20: Famine and Rebuke
20. "THE LORD WILL SEND UPON YOU FAMINE AND HUNGER." — In Hebrew: "He will send upon you a curse and confusion, or a terrible tumult, in which all things are full of turmoil." But by these words both our Translator and the Septuagint understood famine and hunger: for to carnal men, such as the Jews were, this seems the supreme curse and turmoil.
"AND REBUKE" — that is, destruction, and, as the Septuagint translates, consumption, which is the effect of God's rebuke: namely that all your works be destroyed, ruined, and consumed; it is a metonymy.
Verses 22-24: Drought, Blight, and Bronze Skies
22. "MAY THE LORD STRIKE YOU, etc., WITH COLD" — so also the Septuagint; therefore the Hebrew word dalac is of contrary signification, for it commonly signifies elsewhere burning and persecution. "AND WITH SCORCHING HEAT" — the Chaldean and more recent translators translate "and with the sword." "AND WITH BLIGHT" — Blight is a disease of crops, which arises from the east wind entering the stalks, so that they cannot ripen, but are consumed, weakened, and wither.
23. "LET THE SKY ABOVE YOU BE BRONZE" (so that it does not rain down showers to water the crops, but is hard and dry, like bronze), "AND THE EARTH YOU TREAD UPON, IRON" — so that it cannot be plowed, and consequently bears no fruit, as if it were iron.
24. "MAY THE LORD GIVE YOU DUST FOR RAIN UPON YOUR LAND" — that is, instead of rain let dust fall, or sulfurous ash: Let the heat be so great that instead of rain, burning dust descends from the sky, stirred up and lifted high by the force of the winds.
Verses 27-29: Plagues and Blindness
27. "MAY THE LORD STRIKE YOU WITH THE ULCER OF EGYPT" (such as He inflicted on the Egyptians through Moses, Exodus 9:10). In Hebrew: "may He strike you with diseases of the anus, that is, hemorrhoids and similar diseases."
29. "SO THAT YOU GROPE AT MIDDAY" — so that you are blind in a matter as clear as the light of noon; he speaks of blindness of mind, as is clear from what follows. For blindness of mind is the punishment of sin, and an enormous one, as St. Augustine teaches on Psalm 57: "Is it a small punishment," he says, "the darkening of the heart and the blinding of the mind?" The Jews and the impious grope at midday, both formerly and now. Is not the law of Christ the noonday light, and the doctrine illuminating the Christian world? In this light the blind grope, they do not see eternal things, and they cling to fleeting and perishable things. "Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed upon their hearts," says St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 3.
"YOU SHALL NOT DIRECT YOUR WAYS." — In Hebrew: "you shall not succeed in your ways," as if to say: Your actions will be unfortunate; everything will turn out badly for you.
Verse 49: The Nation Like an Eagle
49. "THE LORD WILL BRING UPON YOU A NATION FROM AFAR, etc., LIKE AN EAGLE" — which, like an eagle, will fly most swiftly, most quickly, and most violently to plunder you. Here is signified the domination of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar, who in Ezekiel 17:3 is compared to a great eagle; for he overthrew the Jews.
Note: Kings and tyrants, and especially Nebuchadnezzar, are called "eagle," by Jeremiah 48:40, by Ezekiel 17:3, by Daniel 7:4, and by Hosea 8:1. For the eagle is a symbol, first, of kingship and empire, for it is itself the king of birds; second, of strong, swift, and impetuous invasion and battle; third, of rapacity and ferocity; fourth, of victory, for it conquers and prostrates all birds, and even serpents and deer, by throwing dust collected with its wings into their eyes. Hence the Romans and Gentiles often received the omen of victory from eagles, and observed them with superstitious attention.
Verse 50: A Most Insolent Nation
50. "A MOST INSOLENT NATION." — In Hebrew: "a nation strong of face," that is, of brazen front, barbarous, bold, and inhuman.
Verse 53: Eating the Fruit of Their Womb
53. "AND YOU SHALL EAT THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB" — this came to pass in the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. The remaining disasters and calamities which God here threatens upon the Jews were sent upon them by Him, partly in the same destruction by Titus, partly in the siege by the Assyrians — namely Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sennacherib, etc.; partly through Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, partly through Alexander and the Macedonians. So Theodoret, Question 34.
Verses 65-66: A Trembling Heart and Life Hanging in Doubt
65. "THE LORD WILL GIVE YOU THERE A TREMBLING HEART." — This curse the Jews now have, says Abulensis, both because God inflicted it on them as punishment, and because from a tender age they learn to fear Christians, since Christians begin to persecute them while still young, to plunder and beat them.
"AND FAILING EYES" — that is, so that your eyes may grow dim and fail from tears.
66. "AND YOUR LIFE SHALL BE AS IT WERE HANGING BEFORE YOU" (that is, your life shall be placed in danger, and as it were suspended in doubt, indeed) "YOU SHALL NOT BELIEVE IN YOUR LIFE" — that is, you shall not trust your life, or that you can live, but shall despair of life. St. Augustine, in book 16 Against Faustus, chapter 22, Procopius, and St. Leo, sermon 8 On the Passion, understand these words differently, as though he says: Christ is your life, O Jew, whom you have seen hanging on the cross, and yet you did not believe in Him. But this is a symbolic meaning. So also Tertullian, who reads: "Your life shall be hanging on the wood, before your eyes, and you shall not believe in your life."
Verse 68: Return to Egypt by Ships
68. "THE LORD WILL BRING YOU BACK BY SHIPS TO EGYPT." — That this happened under Titus, Josephus teaches, book 7 of the War, chapter 16, where he teaches that Jews captured by the Romans, who were younger than seventeen years, were led to Egypt and sold there for burdens and labor, and in such great numbers that buyers could hardly be found.
Note the word "ships": for hence it is clear that in the time of Moses there were fleets and ships. For Moses here proposes and names these to the Hebrews as things familiar; whence it is clear how much more ancient the history of Moses is than the history of the Gentiles and Poets: for these consider the first ships to have been those of Jason and the Argonauts, who lived shortly before the Trojan War, in the time of Jephthah, judge of the Hebrews.