70 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress [them],.... Plant them and prune them, in expectation of much fruit from them: but shall neither drink [of] the wine nor gather [the grapes]; so far from drinking of the wine of them, that they should not be able to gather any grapes from them: for the worms shall eat them; a sort of worms pernicious to vines,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt have olive trees throughout thy coasts,.... In the several parts of the land of Canaan, which is therefore called a land of olive oil, Deuteronomy 8:8; but thou shalt not anoint [thyself] with the oil; nor any other relations, friends, guests, as was usual at entertainments; see Psalms 23:5; for the phrase "thyself" is not in the text....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shall not enjoy them,.... Or, "they shall not be thine" (q); being taken from them, and given to others, see Deuteronomy 28:32; and for the following reason: for they shall go into captivity; as when the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, and the two tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, and all the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. Which is a creature that not only consumes grass, and herbs, and the corn of the field, but all green trees; see Exodus 10:15. This sort here has its name from the shade they make, hiding the light of the sun, and darkening the face of the earth at no on day; or from the noise they make...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The stranger that [is] within thee shall get up above thee very high,.... In wealth and riches, in power and authority, in honour and dignity. This Manasseh Ben Israel (r) interprets of the Samaritans, whom the king of Assyria drove out of Samaria, and the neighbouring places; but the design of the expression is to show how mean and abject they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He shall lend to thee, and thou shall not lend to him,.... The stranger, or one of another nation, shall be in a capacity of lending to the Jew, when the Jew would not be able to lend to the Gentile, his circumstances being so low and mean; to show which is the design of the expression, and not the kindness or unkindness of either; see Deuteronomy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee,.... Before related, as well as what follow: and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee till thou be destroyed; which though they would endeavour to flee from and escape, should not be able, since they would follow them so closely and swiftly, and overtake them, and seize upon them; see Deuteronomy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder,.... That is, those curses before pronounced, Deuteronomy 27:15, and what follow, should rest and remain upon them, continue with them, and be very visible on them; so as to be observed by others, as a sign of the wrath and displeasure of God, and of the fulfilment of prophecy, and of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God,.... By attending his worship, and keeping his commandments: with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all [things]; which they enjoyed in the land of Canaan, a land that abounded with all good things; which laid them under great obligations to serve the Lord: and yet, as they were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore shall thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee,.... Since they would not serve the Lord their God, who was so good a master to them, and supplied them with all good things, and with plenty of them, they should serve other lords, their enemies, whom God would raise up and send against them; not only, the Assyrians,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth,.... Now though Babylon is represented as a country distant from Judea, and said to be a nation "from far", Jeremiah 5:15; yet not "from the end of the earth"; as here; and though the Roman nation, strictly speaking, was not at so great a distance from Jerusalem, yet...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A nation of fierce countenance,.... Or, "strong of face" (y); which aptly describes the old Romans, who are always represented as such; and whereas it is said of the Chaldeans, that they were a nation dreadful and terrible, Habakkuk 1:7; the same is said of the fourth beast, or Roman empire, Daniel 7:7; who were a terror to all the world: which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle,.... Larger and lesser, oxen and sheep, as their calves and lambs, and kids of the goat: and the fruit of thy land; their wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates: until thou be destroyed; the land of Judea, and all the increase of it: this being before said, Deuteronomy 28:31; and here...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,.... That is, in all their cities and walled towns, which had gates and bars for security: until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land; the Jews had several cities well fenced and strongly fortified, besides Jerusalem, which was fortified both by art and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shall eat the fruit of thine body,.... Than which nothing can be more shocking and unnatural, which is explained as follows: the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee; which is an aggravation of the cruel and inhuman fact: in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[So that] the man [that is] tender among you, and very delicate,.... Not only the rustic that has been brought up meanly, and used to hard living; but one that has been bred very tenderly, and lived in a delicate manner, like the rich man in Lu 16:19; that fared sumptuously every day: his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat,.... Neither give to a brother, nor to a wife, nor to any of his remaining children, the least bit of the flesh of a child he has killed and dressed for his own food; which adds to the barbarity of his action: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the tender and delicate woman amongst you,.... Who is instanced in because of her sex, which is more pitiful and compassionate, and especially one that has been brought up genteelly, and has always lived deliciously, on the most delicate fare, and nicest dainties, and used to all the delights of nature: which would not venture to set her foot...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet,.... Or her secundine, "her afterbirth", as in the margin of our Bibles; so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra interpret it. The latter describes it, "the place of the fetus, while it abides in the womb of its mother;'' the membrane in which the child is wrapped; and it is suggested...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words this law, that are written in this book,.... Of Deuteronomy, in which there is a repetition of the laws before delivered, and an addition of some new ones; all which were to be so observed as to be done, to this end, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name of the Lord thy God; or that it...