Deuteronomy 28:35

The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, detailing the specific covenant curses that will follow their abandonment of the law.

The words — The text employs בִּשְׁחִין (bi/sh.Chin) for "with/boil[s]" and רָע (Ra') for "bad," literally identifying the affliction as a severe, painful disease.

The thread — This total bodily scourge reappears in Deuteronomy 28:27 as the "boils of Egypt," Job 2:6 as permitted physical destruction, and Isaiah 1:6 as festering sores from foot to head.

Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that covenant breach produces comprehensive physical ruin, eliminating any ground for self-preservation or partial recovery.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

יַכְּכָ֨הya.ke./Khahhe will strike/ you יְהוָ֜הYah.wehYahweh בִּשְׁחִ֣יןbi/sh.Chinwith/ boil[s]רָ֗עRa'bad עַל־'al-on הַבִּרְכַּ֙יִם֙ha./bir.Ka.yimthe/ knees וְעַל־ve./'al-and/ on הַשֹּׁקַ֔יִםha./sho.Ka.yimthe/ legs אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich לֹא־lo'-not תוּכַ֖לtu.Khalyou will be able לְהֵרָפֵ֑אle./he.ra.Fe'to/ be healed מִכַּ֥ףmi./Kaffrom/ [the] sole of רַגְלְךָ֖rag.le./Khafoot/ your וְעַ֥דve./'Adand/ to קָדְקֳדֶֽךָ׃ka.de.ko.De./chascalp/ your

King James Version

The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 28:27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
Job 2:6 “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”
Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.
Isaiah 3:17 the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”
Isaiah 3:24 Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.