Deuteronomy 28:62

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the LORD your God.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְנִשְׁאַרְתֶּם֙ בִּמְתֵ֣י מְעָ֔ט תַּ֚חַת אֲשֶׁ֣ר הֱיִיתֶ֔ם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לָרֹ֑ב כִּי־לֹ֣א שָׁמַ֔עְתָּ בְּק֖וֹל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

Transliteration

And-nišʾartem in-mĕtê mĕʿāṭ, taḥat which hĕyîtem like-kôkĕbê the-šāmayim for-rōb; for-not šāmaʿtā in-qôl YHWH ʾĕlōhêkā.

Grammar Details

• *nišʾartem*: Niphal perfect 2nd masculine plural - you will be left/remain
• *mĕtê*: noun masculine plural construct - men of
• *mĕʿāṭ*: adjective masculine singular - few/small
• *taḥat*: preposition - instead of/beneath
• *hĕyîtem*: Qal perfect 2nd masculine plural - you were
• *kôkĕbê*: noun masculine plural construct - stars of
• *šāmayim*: noun masculine plural - heavens/sky
• *rōb*: noun masculine singular - abundance/multitude
• *šāmaʿtā*: Qal perfect 2nd masculine singular - you listened to/obeyed
• *qôl*: noun masculine singular construct - voice of
• *YHWH*: proper noun - divine name
• *ʾĕlōhêkā*: noun masculine plural construct with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your God

Word Meanings

• *nišʾartem*: you will be left/remain/be spared
• *mĕtê* *mĕʿāṭ*: few men/small number/just a few
• *taḥat*: instead of/beneath/under/in place of
• *kôkĕbê* *šāmayim*: stars of heaven/celestial stars
• *rōb*: abundance/multitude/great number
• *šāmaʿtā*: you listened to/obeyed/heeded/complied with
• *qôl*: voice/sound/utterance

Referenced Verses

• Deut 4:27 : 27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
• Deut 10:22 : 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.
• Neh 9:23 : 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess.
• 2 Kgs 24:14 : 14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers(10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.
• Neh 7:4 : 4 Now the city was spread out and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. At that time houses had not been rebuilt.
• Jer 42:2 : 2 They said to him,“Please grant our request and pray to the LORD your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.
• Jer 52:28-30 : 28 Here is the official record of the number of people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all 4,600 people went into exile.
• Mark 13:20 : 20 And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them short.
• Rom 9:27-29 : 27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel,“Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” 29 Just as Isaiah predicted,“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
• 2 Kgs 13:7 : 7 Jehoahaz had no army left except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops and trampled on them like dust.
• Isa 1:9 : 9 If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly been like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.
• Isa 24:6 : 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.
• Lev 26:22 : 22 I will send the wild animals against you and they will bereave you of your children, annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population so that your roads will become deserted.