New International Version
Deuteronomy 28:23
23The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
Deuteronomy 28:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
- New Living Translation (NLT)The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron.
Context of Deuteronomy 28:23
21The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. 25The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.
Read all of Deuteronomy 28Deuteronomy 28:23 word by word
וְהָי֥וּ שָׁמֶ֛יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עַל־רֹאשְׁךָ֖ נְחֹ֑שֶׁת וְהָאָ֥רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־תַּחְתֶּ֖יךָ בַּרְזֶֽל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 28:23
- Leviticus 26:19I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.
- 1 Kings 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
- 1 Kings 18:2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria,
- Jeremiah 14:1This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
- Amos 4:7“I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up.
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 28:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23Thy heaven - shall be brass, and the earth - iron - The atmosphere should not be replenished with aqueous vapours, in consequence of which they should have neither the early nor the latter rain; hence the earth - the ground, must be wholly intractable, and, through its hardness, incapable of cultivation. God shows them by this that he is Lord of nature; and that drought and sterility are not casualties, but proceed from the immediate appointment of the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15-68Verses 15-68 The curses correspond in form and number Deuteronomy 28:15-19 to the blessings Deuteronomy 28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deuteronomy 28:20-26 First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war. Deuteronomy 28:20 Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-44Verses 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23This graphic picture of drought and famine shows the sky holding back the rain, which makes the earth dry and barren.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. heaven ... brass ... earth ... iron--strong Oriental figures used to describe the effects of long-continued drought. This want of regular and seasonable rain is allowed by the most intelligent observers to be one great cause of the present sterility of Palestine.Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 28:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 28
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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