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Deuteronomy 28:48

⁴⁶ These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever.

⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,

you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

⁵⁰ a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
KJV: Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
WEB: therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
ASV: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
DARBY: thou shalt serve thine enemies whom Jehovah will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of everything; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
BLB: therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom YHWH will send against you, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in lack of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.

ÅB: så skal du tjene dine fiender, som Herren skal sende mot deg, i hunger og tørst og i nakenhet og i mangel på alt; og han skal legge et jernåk på din hals, til han har ødelagt deg.
OTB: derfor vil du i sult og tørst, i nakenhet og ytterste fattigdom, tjene fiendene Herren sender mot deg. Han vil legge et tungt åk på din nakke inntil Han har ødelagt deg.
B1930: så skal du tjene dine fiender, som Herren skal sende mot dig, i hunger og tørst og i nakenhet og i mangel på alt; og han skal legge et jernåk på din hals, til han har ødelagt dig.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 28:13–14
“Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the LORD says: ‘You have broken a yoke of wood, but in its place you have fashioned a yoke of iron.’
Read in context
Ezekiel 17:12
“Now say to this rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, carried off its king and officials, and brought them back with him to Babylon.
Read in context
Lamentations 5:2–6
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Read in context
Jeremiah 44:22
So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
Read in context
Ezekiel 4:16–17
Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
Read in context
Jeremiah 44:27
I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are finished off.
Read in context
Nehemiah 9:35–37
For even while they were in their kingdom, with the abundant goodness that You had given them, and in the spacious and fertile land that You had set before them, they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.
Read in context
Jeremiah 44:17–18
Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
Read in context