Deuteronomy 28:33

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) A nation which thou knowest not.—Comp. Jeremiah 5:15-17, “A nation whose language thou knowest not . . . shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread” &c.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:33. Which thou knowest not — Who shall come from a far country, whom thou didst not at all expect or fear, and therefore will be the more dreadful when they come. This was remarkably fulfilled when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came and dispossessed the ten tribes, and when Nebuchadnezzar carried the other two tribes away, and placed other people in their room. Thou shalt be oppressed and crushed always — They were not to be quite rooted out and destroyed, as the Amalekites and Canaanites were, of whom no footsteps now remain; but to be scattered through other nations, and there oppressed, crushed, and enslaved.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:15-44 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 enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references for the fulfillment of these judgments.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29-33. thou shalt grope at noonday—a general description of the painful uncertainty in which they would live. During the Middle Ages the Jews were driven from society into hiding-places which they were afraid to leave, not knowing from what quarter they might be assailed and their children dragged into captivity, from which no friend could rescue, and no money ransom them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which thou knowest not; which shall come from a far country, which thou didst not at all expect or fear and therefore will be the more dreadful when they come; a nation whose language thou understandest not, and therefore canst not plead with them for mercy, nor expect any favour from them.

Oppressed and crushed alway; not sometimes conquered, and sometimes conquering, as the course of war commonly is, but in all times, and in all thy actions and attempts, foiled and worsted.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labour, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up,.... The same was prophesied of by Jeremiah, concerning the Babylonish captivity, and was fulfilled in it, Jeremiah 5:17; and has been also verified in the frequent pillage and spoil of this people, in their present state; for though they have no land to till, from whence to gather fruit, yet they are employed in manufactures and merchandise, the fruit and benefit of which they have been frequently stripped of:

and thou shall be only oppressed and crushed always; this seems best to agree with their present case; for in their former captivities they were not always oppressed and crushed, but had respite and deliverance; See Gill on Deuteronomy 28:29.

Geneva Study Bible

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. thou knowest not] So of the land of the invading nation, Jeremiah 14:18; Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 17:4; Jeremiah 22:28.

Deuteronomy 28:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 28:29 leads to the same conclusion, where it is stated that Israel would grope in the bright noon-day, like a blind man in the dark, and not make his ways prosper, i.e., not hit upon the right road which led to the goal and to salvation, would have no good fortune or success in its undertakings (cf. Psalm 37:7). Being thus smitten in body and soul, it would be only (אך as in Deuteronomy 16:15), i.e., utterly, oppressed and spoiled evermore. These words introduce the picture of the other calamity, viz., the plundering of the nation and the land by enemies (Deuteronomy 28:30-33). Wife, house, vineyard, ox, ass, and sheep would be taken away by the foe; sons and daughters would be carried away into captivity before the eyes of the people, who would see it and pine after the children, i.e., with sorrow and longing after them; "and thy hand shall not be to thee towards God," i.e., all power and help will fail thee. (On this proverbial expression, see Genesis 31:29; and on חלּל, in Genesis 31:30, see at Deuteronomy 20:6.) - In Deuteronomy 28:33, Deuteronomy 28:34, this threat is summed up in the following manner: the fruit of the field and all their productions would be devoured by a strange nation, and Israel would be only oppressed and crushed to pieces all its days, and become mad on account of what its eyes would be compelled to see.