Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 28:37
You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, concluding the covenant curses that follow disobedience. The verse specifically warns that covenant failure will result in forced exile among foreign nations.
The words — The Hebrew shammah (H8047) literally denotes horror or desolation, and shninah (H8148) translates to taunt or byword. These terms specify the degraded social status the exiled community will endure.
The thread — The identical phrase "horror and scorn" appears in Jeremiah 24:9 regarding Judah’s exile, while 1 Kings 9:7 and Jeremiah 25:9 record earlier warnings that covenant failure will trigger national banishment.
Why it lands — The text states that displaced Israelites will face universal mockery from the nations that conquer them. It asks the reader to accept that spiritual rebellion produces tangible social ruin and that divine judgment operates through historical consequences.
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
King James Version
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 24:9 I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- 1 Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- 2 Chronicles 7:20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
- Psalms 44:13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
- Zechariah 8:13 As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”
- Deuteronomy 28:28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,
- Deuteronomy 29:22 Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”