Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 28:38
You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, outlining the covenant curses that will follow their disobedience. This verse falls within a sequence detailing agricultural ruin as a direct consequence of breaking the covenant.
The words — The Hebrew term רַב (rav) means "much," describing the abundant seed sown, while תֶּאֱסֹף (te.'e.Sof) literally means "you will gather," indicating the meager harvest.
The thread — The motif of failed harvests due to covenant judgment appears in Haggai 1:6 and Micah 6:15, while Joel 1:4 similarly attributes crop destruction to locust swarms.
Why it lands — The text states that diligent labor yields nothing because locusts consume the crop, leaving the reader to recognize the futility of work under divine judgment. It demands acknowledgment that obedience, not effort, secures the fruit of the land.
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
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Cross-references
- Haggai 1:6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
- Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- Micah 6:15 You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.
- Amos 4:9 “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
- Exodus 10:14 The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be.
- Isaiah 5:10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”
- Joel 2:3 Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.
- Amos 7:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.