Deuteronomy 28:39

You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering covenant curses before they enter Canaan. The verse functions as a specific judgment detailing agricultural futility.

The words — The text pairs תִּטַּ֖ע (ti.Ta', "you will plant") and וְ/עָבָ֑דְתָּ (ve./'a.Va.de.ta, "and you will labor") to emphasize the effort applied to the כְּרָמִ֥ים (ke.ra.Mim, "vineyards"). The negation לֹֽא־ (lo'-, "not") precedes תִשְׁתֶּה (tish.Teh, "you will drink") and תֶאֱגֹר (te.'e.Gor, "you will gather") to mark the complete denial of the harvest's benefit.

The thread — This pattern of wasted cultivation appears in Isaiah 5:10, where abundant land yields meager harvests, and Joel 1:4, which describes successive swarms of locusts consuming what remains. It mirrors the adjacent curse in Deuteronomy 28:40 regarding olive trees that drop their fruit.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant disobedience transforms productive labor into pointless activity. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment can nullify human effort without altering the initial work.

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

כְּרָמִ֥יםke.ra.Mimvineyards תִּטַּ֖עti.Ta'you will plant וְעָבָ֑דְתָּve./'a.Va.de.taand/ you will labor וְיַ֤יִןve./Ya.yinand/ wine לֹֽא־lo'-not תִשְׁתֶּה֙tish.Tehyou will drink וְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not תֶאֱגֹ֔רte.'e.Goryou will gather כִּ֥יkifor תֹאכְלֶ֖נּוּto.khe.Le./nuit will eat/ it הַתֹּלָֽעַת׃ha./to.La.'atthe/ worm[s]

King James Version

Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.

Cross-references

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.”
Isaiah 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
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.
Joel 2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.
Jonah 4:7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.