Deuteronomy 28:16

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אָר֥וּר אַתָּ֖ה בָּעִ֑יר וְאָר֥וּר אַתָּ֖ה בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃

Transliteration

ʾĀrûr ʾattāh in the ʿîr and ʾārûr ʾattāh in the śādeh.

Grammar Details

• *ʾĀrûr*: passive participle, Qal, masculine singular - cursed
• *ʾattāh*: 2nd masculine singular pronoun - you
• *ʿîr*: feminine singular noun with definite article - the city
• *ʾārûr*: passive participle, Qal, masculine singular - cursed
• *śādeh*: masculine singular noun with definite article - the field

Word Meanings

• *ʾĀrûr*: cursed/under curse
• *ʿîr*: city/town
• *śādeh*: field/open country/land

Referenced Verses

• Gen 3:17-18 : 17 But to Adam he said,“Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.
• Gen 4:11-12 : 11 So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
• Gen 5:29 : 29 He named him Noah, saying,“This one will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the LORD has cursed.”
• Gen 8:21-22 : 21 And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself,“I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. 22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
• Deut 28:3-9 : 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. 4 Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The LORD will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions. 8 The LORD will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do– yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 The LORD will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him. 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the LORD, and they will respect you. 11 The LORD will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you. 12 The LORD will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 13 The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do. 14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.
• Deut 28:55 : 55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating(since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
• 1 Kgs 17:1 : 1 Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab,“As certainly as the LORD God of Israel lives(whom I serve), there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.”
• 1 Kgs 17:5 : 5 So he carried out the LORD’s message; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.
• 1 Kgs 17:12 : 12 She said,“As certainly as the LORD your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.”
• Prov 3:33 : 33 The LORD’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.
• Isa 24:6-9 : 6 So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people. 7 The new wine dries up, the vines shrivel up, all those who like to celebrate groan. 8 The happy sound of the tambourines stops, the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt, the happy sound of the harp ceases. 9 They no longer sing and drink wine; the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it. 10 The ruined town is shattered; all of the houses are shut up tight. 11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; all joy turns to sorrow; celebrations disappear from the earth. 12 The city is left in ruins; the gate is reduced to rubble.
• Isa 43:28 : 28 So I defiled your holy princes, and handed Jacob over to destruction, and subjected Israel to humiliating abuse.”
• Jer 9:11 : 11 The LORD said,“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”
• Jer 14:2-5 : 2 “The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. Cries of distress come up to me from Jerusalem. 3 The leading men of the cities send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns, but they do not find any water there. They return with their containers empty. Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. 4 They are dismayed because the ground is cracked because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers, too, are dismayed and bury their faces in their hands. 5 Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn in the field because there is no grass.
• Jer 14:18 : 18 If I go out into the countryside, I see those who have been killed in battle. If I go into the city, I see those who are sick because of starvation. For both prophet and priest– they go peddling in the land but they are not humbled.’”
• Jer 26:6 : 6 If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”
• Jer 44:22 : 22 Finally the LORD could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses.
• Lam 1:1 : 1 ¶ The Prophet Speaks:א(Alef) Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer!
• Lam 2:11-22 : 11 כ(Kaf) My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares. 12 ל(Lamed) Children say to their mothers,“Where are food and drink?” They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers’ arms. 13 מ(Mem) With what can I equate you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? 14 נ(Nun) Your prophets saw visions for you that were worthless whitewash. They failed to expose your sin so as to restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were worthless lies. 15 ס(Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem.“Ha! Is this the city they called‘The perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” 16 פ(Pe) All your enemies gloated over you. They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said,“We have destroyed her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!” 17 ע(Ayin) The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he threatened long ago: He has overthrown you without mercy and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you; he has exalted your adversaries’ power. 18 צ(Tsade) Cry out from your heart to the Lord, O wall of Daughter Zion! Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! Do not rest; do not let your tears stop! 19 ק(Qof) Get up! Cry out in the night when the night watches start! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands to him for your children’s lives; they are fainting from hunger at every street corner. 20 ר(Resh)Jerusalem Speaks: Look, O LORD! Consider! Whom have you ever afflicted like this? Should women eat their offspring, their healthy infants? Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary? 21 ש(Sin/Shin) The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy. 22 ת(Tav) As if it were a feast day, you call enemies to terrify me on every side. On the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has finished off those healthy infants whom I bore and raised.
• Lam 4:1-9 : 1 א(Alef)The Prophet Speaks: Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner. 2 ב(Bet) The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold– Alas!– but now they are treated like broken clay pots, made by a potter. 3 ג(Gimel) Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness. 4 ד(Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel. 5 ה(He) Those who once feasted on delicacies are now starving to death in the streets. Those who grew up wearing expensive clothes are now dying amid garbage. 6 ו(Vav) The punishment of my people exceeded that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her. 7 ז(Zayin) Her consecrated ones were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than corals, their hair like lapis lazuli. 8 ח(Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark. 9 ט(Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food. 10 י(Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed. 11 כ(Kaf) The LORD fully vented his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger. He started a fire in Zion; it consumed her foundations. 12 ל(Lamed) Neither the kings of the earth nor the people of the lands ever thought that enemy or foe would enter the gates of Jerusalem. 13 מ(Mem) But it happened due to the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who poured out in her midst the blood of the righteous.
• Lam 5:10 : 10 Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.
• Joel 1:4 : 4 What the gazam-locust left the‘arbeh-locust consumed, what the‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!
• Joel 1:8-9 : 8 A Call to Lament Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. 9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the LORD anymore. So the priests, those who serve the LORD, are in mourning. 10 The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes. 11 Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished. 12 The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes– the pomegranate, date, and apple as well. In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up! 13 Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. 14 Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. 15 How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. 16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! 17 The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. 18 Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
• Joel 2:3 : 3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness– for nothing escapes them!
• Amos 4:6-9 : 6 “But surely I gave you no food to eat in all your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking! 7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up. 8 People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water, but remained thirsty. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking! 9 “I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!
• Hag 1:9-9 : 9 ‘You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little. And when you would bring it home, I would blow it right away. Why?’ asks the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! 10 This is why the sky has held back its dew and the earth its produce. 11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’”
• Hag 2:16-17 : 16 From that time when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the products of your labor with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ says the LORD.
• Mal 2:2 : 2 If you do not listen and take seriously the need to honor my name,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“I will send judgment on you and turn your blessings into curses– indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.
• Mal 3:9-9 : 9 You are bound for judgment because you are robbing me– this whole nation is guilty. 10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it all. 11 Then I will stop the plague from ruining your crops, and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in a delightful land,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
• Mal 4:6 : 6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”