Deuteronomy28:1–14

Where the English smooths the original

• שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע Hebrew doubles the verb — infinitive-absolute שָׁמוֹעַ before finite תִּשְׁמַע — an emphatic idiom, “if hearing you will hear.” The BSB’s “faithfully obey” renders the force but hides the construction; shāma‘ means hear first, obedience by implication.
• וְהָיָה The verse opens with a whole clause, וְהָיָה, “and it will come to pass” (root hāyāh, the root behind the divine name); the BSB compresses it to “Now,” the same flattening seen at Joshua 1:1’s way·hî.
• עֶלְיוֹן עֶלְיוֹן is not a comparative phrase but a noun-adjective, “Most High” — a title borne by God Himself (‘Elyôn, Genesis 14:18). Ellicott notes the literal force: God “will make thee Most High.” “Set thee on high above” is true but loses the startling word choice.
• לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת Two infinitives in series, לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת — “to keep, to do” — guarding the command and then enacting it; the BSB’s “careful to follow” fuses the pair into one idea.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ (Hiphil of nāśag) is the verb of a pursuer who catches up — used elsewhere of an avenger overtaking a fugitive (Deuteronomy 19:6). Here the blessings are the pursuers. Ellicott calls it “a beautiful expression… shall come home to thee… even when it is least expected.” “Overtake” is exact; the BSB just under-sells the chase.
• כִּי The BSB renders כִּי as “if,” but v. 1 already carried the conditional ’im; here kî reads more naturally “for / when” — the obedience is assumed, and the blessings follow. The Cambridge note glosses it as the certainty that “a man’s goodness… is sure to find him out.”
• וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ Word order puts the verb first and the blessings as the subject that “come upon you” — they are personified agents, not abstractions. The Pulpit Commentary: “represented as personified, as actual agencies coming upon their objects.”

Where the English smooths the original

• בָּרוּךְ בָּרוּךְ is a passive participle — “blessed (one)” — placed first for stress, exactly the form repeated six times in vv. 3–6. The BSB’s “you will be blessed” turns the standing state into a future event; the Hebrew pronounces a status. The root bārak first means “to kneel.”
• בָּעִיר בָּעִיר, “in the city,” paired with “in the field” covers the two spheres of life. Keil & Delitzsch: “the town and… the field, the two spheres in which its life moves.” No place is left outside the blessing.
• בַּשָּׂדֶה בַּשָּׂדֶה, “in the field” — the open, cultivated land (sādeh). Gill notes the rural reach: “in all kinds of husbandry… all should prosper.” City and field together form a merism for everywhere.

Where the English smooths the original

• פְּרִי בִטְנְךָ פְּרִי בִטְנְךָ is literally “fruit of your belly/womb” — the same image of fruit (pərî) runs three times across womb, ground, and beast, binding children, crops, and herds into one harvest-word. The BSB splits it into “fruit… produce… offspring,” losing the single repeated noun.
• שְׁגַר שְׁגַר (sheger) is a rare word — the “dropping / offspring” of cattle, what is born of the herd. It occurs in only five verses. The BSB’s “calves” is a fair gloss but the term is technical and unusual, a marker linking this verse to Deuteronomy 7:13 and Exodus 13:12.
• וְעַשְׁתְּרוֹת וְעַשְׁתְּרוֹת (‘ashtərōṯ) literally means “increases,” the young / ewes of the flock — strikingly, a word echoing the name of the goddess Ashtoreth tied to fertility. The plain sense is the lambing of the flock; the BSB’s “lambs” is right but the word is one of the four rarest in the chapter (4 verses).

Where the English smooths the original

• טַנְאֲךָ טַנְאֲךָ (ṭene’) is a rare word — a woven basket of osiers — occurring in only four verses (here, Deuteronomy 28:17, and 26:2, 4). The BSB’s “basket” is exact; the rarity makes it a precise verbal hinge to the matching curse of v. 17.
• וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ (mish’ereṯ) is the kneading-trough in which dough rises — not a generic “store.” The KJV’s “store” followed the LXX; Ellicott himself concedes “The word is identical in form with that used for ‘kneading troughs’ in Exodus 8:3.” The BSB’s “kneading bowl” recovers the literal sense.
• בָּרוּךְ The participle בָּרוּךְ here stands after the two nouns rather than before — a small chiastic turn closing the inner trio of vv. 3–5. The English fixed word order cannot show the shift.

Where the English smooths the original

• בְּבֹאֶךָ בְּבֹאֶךָ is literally “in your coming-in” (infinitive of bô’ with suffix), not a clause “when you come in.” Paired with “going-out” it is a fixed idiom for the whole of life’s movement — Poole: “in all thy affairs and administrations.”
• בְּצֵאתֶךָ בְּצֵאתֶךָ, “in your going-out” (root yāṣā’) — the same verb used for marching out to war (v. 7). The coming-in / going-out merism covers home and field, peace and battle; Gill: “particularly when they went out to war, and returned.”
• אַתָּה The pronoun אַתָּה, “you,” is repeated in both halves, bracketing each clause; the BSB drops the second “you” as redundant, but the Hebrew keeps the person squarely in view on both sides of the blessing.

Where the English smooths the original

• יִתֵּן יִתֵּן is the verb nāṯan, “give,” here in a form Keil & Delitzsch read as optative — “may the Lord give thine enemies… smitten before thee.” The BSB’s “will cause… to be defeated” is a faithful paraphrase of the idiom “give them up smitten,” but the bare verb is simply give.
• נִגָּפִים נִגָּפִים (Niphal participle of nāgap̄) means “struck down, defeated,” the same root behind a plague or stumbling. God hands the enemy over already in the state of the smitten; the BSB’s “to be defeated” reads it as purpose, the Hebrew as a delivered condition.
• וּבְשִׁבְעָה דְרָכִים בְּשִׁבְעָה דְרָכִים, “in seven roads,” set against “one road” — seven here is not arithmetic but the number of completeness; JFB: “in various directions, as always happens in a rout.” The contrast one → seven paints total collapse.

Where the English smooths the original

• יְצַו יְצַו (yəṣaw, jussive of ṣāwāh) — God commands / decrees the blessing into being, the same root as “commandment” in v. 1: Israel keeps God’s command; God commands the blessing. Poole: “shall by his sovereign and powerful providence give it… without a word of command from God himself.” The BSB’s “decree” catches it well.
• בַּאֲסָמֶיךָ בַּאֲסָמֶיךָ (’āsām) is a very rare noun — “storehouses / barns” — found in only two verses in all of Scripture, here and Proverbs 3:10. The BSB’s “barns” is exact; the rarity makes it the cleanest verbal thread out of this unit.
• מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ is literally “the sending-out of your hand” — every enterprise you put your hand to. Ellicott marks the contrast with v. 5: “The ‘gathering in’ to the barn, and the ‘putting forth’ of the hand—the income and the expenditure—are alike blessed.” The BSB’s “everything to which you put your hand” is a clean rendering.

Where the English smooths the original

• יְקִימְךָ יְקִימְךָ (Hiphil of qûm) is literally “cause you to stand / raise you up,” not merely “establish.” Ellicott traces the word’s reach: through the LXX it “has given birth to the New Testament word for ‘resurrection.’” The BSB’s “establish” is correct but thins the verb’s lift.
• קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ, “holy,” here means set apart / consecrated to God, not first of all morally good. Cambridge is blunt: “the meaning is not ethical, but = set apart for Himself.” The BSB’s “holy people” is right; the note guards against importing later piety into the word.
• כִּי תִשְׁמֹר כִּי תִשְׁמֹר reads “for / when you keep” as easily as “if you keep.” Cambridge prefers “for (ex hypothesi) thou wilt be keeping” — the obedience treated as the assumed reality, not a doubtful condition. The BSB’s “if” keeps the conditional edge that frames the whole unit.

Where the English smooths the original

• נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ שֵׁם יְהוָה Literally “the name of YHWH is called upon you,” as Cambridge notes: “the name of Jehovah is called over thee, as that of thine owner.” It is the idiom of ownership — a master’s name set over his possession. The BSB’s “you are called by the name of the LORD” reverses the direction and loses the proprietary force.
• וְיָרְאוּ וְיָרְאוּ is the verb yārē’, “fear,” a full-weight dread, not just respect. The BSB’s “stand in awe” softens it; Ellicott pairs it with Jeremiah 33:9, “they shall fear and tremble.” The nations’ response is awe edged with fear.
• כִּי כִּי here is the content-marker “that” — what the nations see. The seeing is not vague impression but recognition of a specific fact: this people belongs to YHWH.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְהוֹתִרְךָ וְהוֹתִרְךָ (Hiphil of yāṯar) means literally “cause you to have a surplus / overflow” — to jut over, exceed. Cambridge: “make thee to have an excess, or surplus, of prosperity.” The BSB’s “prosper abundantly” renders the sense but loses the picture of running-over.
• לְטוֹבָה לְטוֹבָה is “for good / for goodness,” i.e., for genuine welfare. Ellicott corrects the older “in goods”: “Rather, in good or goodness, i.e., in prosperity.” The Pulpit Commentary: “cause it to redound to thy felicity.” The abundance is aimed at the people’s flourishing, not mere accumulation.
• נִשְׁבַּע נִשְׁבַּע (nišba‘, root shāba‘) — to swear, a verb tied to the number seven (“to seven oneself”). The land rests on a sworn oath to the fathers (v. 9), not on Israel’s merit; the BSB’s “swore” is exact.

Where the English smooths the original

• אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב is literally “His good treasure/storehouse,” and the verse then names it: the heavens. Poole: “the heaven or the air… which is God’s storehouse, where he treasures up rain.” The BSB’s “His abundant storehouse” reads good as abundant; the literal word is good.
• מְטַר אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ מְטַר אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ is “the rain of your land in its time/season” — the early and latter rains at their appointed moments. Gill details both “the former rain… and the latter rain.” The BSB’s “rain… in season” is faithful; the Hebrew ties the rain specifically to its land and its set time.
• תִלְוֶה לֹא The verse ends on the verb lāwāh, “to twine / join,” hence to lend or borrow. וְהִלְוִיתָ (Hiphil) is cause to borrow = lend; תִלְוֶה (Qal) is borrow. The negation לֹא falls at the very end in Hebrew word order — “but you, you will borrow — not.” The BSB smooths it to “borrow from none.”

Where the English smooths the original

• לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב, “for a head and not for a tail” — JFB: “an Oriental form of expression, indicating… independent power and great dignity.” The rare word zānāb (tail, only 9 verses) makes this a deliberate verbal foil to Isaiah 9:14 and to the curse of v. 44. The BSB keeps the image well.
• רַק לְמַעְלָה רַק לְמַעְלָה is “only upward.” The particle raq means nothing but (Cambridge: “Here = nothing but”) — the ascent is unmixed, no downward turn at all. The BSB’s “only move upward” adds the verb move; the Hebrew has only the adverb of direction.
• תִשְׁמַע אֶל תִשְׁמַע אֶל — “hear toward / give heed to.” The closing condition restates v. 1’s shāma‘, now sealed with the same pair “to keep and to do” (lišmōr wəla‘ăśôṯ). Keil & Delitzsch: “the discourse returns to its commencement.” The unit closes where it opened.

Where the English smooths the original

• תָסוּר תָסוּר (tāsûr, root sûr) is “turn off / depart” from the road — Gill: “turn out from them as a path to walk in.” Obedience is figured as staying on a way; sin is a swerve. The BSB’s “turn aside” is exact.
• יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול, “right and left” — the standard idiom for any deviation in either direction (cf. Deuteronomy 5:32). The straight path admits no editing; departure to either hand is the same disobedience.
• לָלֶכֶת אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים לָלֶכֶת אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים is literally “to walk after other gods.” The same verb hālak (walk) used positively in v. 9 (“walk in His ways”) is here turned to apostasy. Idolatry is named as the one fatal swerve; the whole blessing rests on undivided allegiance.