Deuteronomy 28:35 · Bible study
Deuteronomy 28:35 Commentary: Incurable Boils and Divine Justice
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does God promise incurable boils as a covenant curse in Deuteronomy 28:35?
Research Summary
- Meaning: A covenant curse of incurable boils from sole to crown, symbolizing total divine judgment for disobedience.
- Key words: Yahweh (H3068, the covenant God), strike (H5221, to smite), boil (H7822, inflamed swelling), incurable (H7495 in Niphal, unable to be healed), sole (H3709, palm/sole), crown (H6936, scalp).
- Main debate: Whether the description points to a specific historical disease (elephantiasis, per JFB) or functions as general curse language.
- Theological theme: God’s justice within the covenant relationship, sin has concrete, bodily consequences.
- Best use: Demonstrating the severity of sin and the depth of human need for a curse-bearing Savior.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
KJV King James Version 1769
The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Jehovah will smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`Jehovah doth smite thee with an evil ulcer, on the knees, and on the legs (of which thou art not able to be healed), from the sole of thy foot even unto thy crown.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Jehovah will smite thee in the knees and in the legs with evil ulcers, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Herirte ha Jehová con maligna pústula en las rodillas y en las piernas, sin que puedas ser curado: aun desde la planta de tu pie hasta tu mollera.
O SENHOR te ferirá com maligna úlcera nos joelhos e nas pernas, sem que possas ser curado: ainda desde a planta de teu pé até o topo de tua cabeça.
L’ Éternel te frappera aux genoux et aux cuisses d’ un ulcère malin dont tu ne pourras guérir, il te frappera depuis la plante du pied jusqu’ au sommet de la tête.
Der HERR wird dich schlagen mit bösen Drüsen an den Knieen und Waden, daß du nicht kannst geheilt werden, von den Fußsohlen an bis auf den Scheitel.
De HEERE zal u slaan met boze zweren, aan de knieen en aan de benen, waarvan gij niet zult kunnen genezen worden, van uw voetzool af tot aan uw schedel.
L’Eterno ti colpirà sulle ginocchia e sulle cosce con un’ulcera maligna, della quale non potrai guarire; ti colpirà dalle piante de’ piedi alla sommità del capo.
Zarazi cię Pan wrzodem złym na kolanach i na łystach, tak, że nie będziesz mógł być uleczonym, od stopy nogi twojej i aż do wierzchu głowy twojej.
Поразит тебя Господь злою проказою на коленях и голенях, от которой ты не возможешь исцелиться, от подошвы ноги твоей до самого темени [головы] твоей.
耶和華 必攻擊你，使你膝 上 腿 上，從腳 掌 到 頭頂，長毒 瘡 無 法 醫治。
The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Deuteronomy 28:35
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree this verse describes a severe, visible affliction that serves as a covenant curse for disobedience. Gill notes this boil is “incurable by the art of man,” emphasizing its hopelessness from a human perspective. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown identify it specifically as elephantiasis, “a horrible disease, something like leprosy, which attacks particularly the lower extremities.” Calvin adds that such punishments are not common maladies but those “whereby He openly shews His vengeance against the transgressors of the Law.” The Cambridge Bible places the verse within the detailed antithesis structure of the curses, where physical disease mirrors the covenantal brokenness. The incurable, total nature of the affliction (from sole to crown) underscores the completeness of judgment. There is broad agreement that the curse is real, bodily, and intended to display God’s justice.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: God threatens an incurable, total-body affliction as a direct consequence for covenant breaking.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Specific disease identification | The boil (shechin) is a real, painful, inflamed skin condition. | Some identify it as elephantiasis (JFB), while others see it as a general inflammatory swelling (Clarke). |
| Relation to Job's affliction | The language is identical to Job 2:7, forming an intertextual link. | Whether Job's sores were a covenant curse (since Job was not being punished for personal sin) or a different kind of trial. |
| Fairness of divine judgment | The curse is a just consequence of covenant breaking within the Old Testament framework. | Modern readers often struggle with the proportionality of such severe physical punishment; some emphasize God's sovereignty, others the pedagogic purpose. |
| Applicability to Christians | Christ bore the curse of the law (Gal 3:13) and thus believers are no longer under this threat. | Some traditions see such curses as still operative in a spiritual sense; others confine them to the Old Covenant national context. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse belongs to the list of curses in Deuteronomy 28, a passage that mirrors the blessings earlier in the chapter. The Cambridge Bible notes the curses often correspond antithetically to blessings: the disease curse here corresponds to the blessing of health. Lange’s commentary discusses the specific terms: the Hebrew shechin (boil) appears also in Exodus 9:9, 10, where it was a plague on Egypt, a pointed reminder that covenant unfaithfulness could bring the same judgments God visited on Israel’s oppressors.
The phrase “from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head” uses the Hebrew kaph (palm/sole) and qodqod (scalp), emphasizing coverage from lowest to highest point. This same expression appears in Job 2:7 and Isaiah 1:6, linking the curse to other contexts of divine/human suffering. The location of the affliction, knees and legs, is significant. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown note that elephantiasis particularly attacks the lower extremities. Mobility would be impaired; the sufferer could not stand or walk, a deeply humiliating condition in a culture where standing in God’s presence symbolized acceptance.
The incurability (from the Hebrew verb ra-pa “to heal,” in the Niphal stem: “to be healed”) stresses that no human remedy would avail. Gill adds that it should not stop in the lower parts of the body but proceed and spread. The covenant structure of Deuteronomy means that every curse is designed to drive Israel back to covenant faithfulness, even the most severe physical judgments.
Textual Notes
The supplied commentaries note no significant textual variants for this verse. The renderings “boil” (WEB, ASV, Darby) versus “botch” (KJV) reflect translation choices for the Hebrew shechin (H7822), not a manuscript difference. The text is stable across the Masoretic tradition and ancient versions.
Reception History
In the Reformation era, Calvin and the Geneva Bible read this verse as a literal warning against covenant unfaithfulness, emphasizing God’s just judgment. Gill and Matthew Henry saw it as an example of the severity of the law. Earlier church fathers such as Origen and Augustine (not supplied here, but broadly known) often interpreted such curse passages allegorically or as pointing to the need for a redeemer. Modern readers sometimes struggle with the image of God imposing physical suffering, leading to discussions on theodicy. The verse has also been connected to Job’s sores, offering a lens for understanding suffering outside of personal guilt. Overall, the church has consistently seen this as a reminder of the cost of sin and the magnitude of the gospel’s deliverance.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The certainty of judgment: God’s warning is specific and severe, an incurable boil, visibly sent by Yahweh. This is not random misfortune but covenantal consequence.
- The scope of sin’s consequence: From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, the affliction covers the whole person. Sin leaves no part of life untouched.
- The gospel response: Christ was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). What was incurable under the law was healed through the wounds of the righteous Servant. The curse finds its answer in the cross.
Five-point outline
- The source: Yahweh strikes, divine agency in judgment, not impersonal fate.
- The location: Knees and legs, mobility and strength are taken away.
- The condition: A sore boil, painful, inflamed, visible to all.
- The duration: Not healed, incurable by human means, underscoring hopelessness apart from God.
- The extent: Sole to crown, total physical affliction, leaving no healthy place.
Illustration hooks
- A chronic bacterial infection that resists antibiotic after antibiotic; each treatment fails, and the body slowly breaks down.
- A visible skin condition that causes social withdrawal; the person is isolated not just physically but relationally.
- The slow destruction of a once-healthy body, a vivid picture of how unchecked consequences can overtake a life.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is God cruel when He sends disease as a curse?
- Does God still punish people directly with illness today?
- How can I trust God if He strikes people with boils?
Leading a Discussion
This passage can be difficult to read. The covenant curses in Deuteronomy are meant to show the gravity of sin and the holiness of God. As you discuss, remember that the whole law points us to our need for a Savior. Let the severity of the curse deepen your appreciation for Christ, who bore the curse for us.
Discussion questions
- Read Deuteronomy 28:35 aloud. What details stand out to you about this curse?
- Why do you think the curse specifically mentions the knees and legs? How might losing the ability to stand or walk affect daily life and worship?
- The boil is described as “incurable.” What does that word communicate about the seriousness of covenant breaking?
- The phrase “from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head” also appears in Job 2:7 and Isaiah 1:6. How do those contexts help you understand this curse?
- Calvin says God maintains “a just proportion” in punishments. What does this suggest about God’s character, even in judgment?
- How does this verse challenge the idea that all suffering is automatically a direct punishment for personal sin? (See John 9:1, 3.)
- How does Christ’s suffering and death fulfill the curse described here? In what ways does the good news answer the hopelessness of this verse?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Deuteronomy 28:27 | Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. |
| Job 2:6 | Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.” |
| Job 2:7 | So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. |
| Isaiah 1:6 | From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil. |
| Isaiah 3:17 | therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.” |
| Isaiah 3:24 | It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
7 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke clarifies that the Hebrew term describes an inflammatory swelling, a burning boil. His focus is on the precise meaning of the word as a painful, inflamed sore, not a generic disease.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin distinguishes between ordinary diseases that come to all people as a result of Adam's sin and the incurable plagues Moses describes here. These are not common ailments; they are visible, targeted judgments that God sends specifically against those who break His law.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible commentary observes that the curses here do not simply reverse the earlier blessings but expand into far greater detail, covering diseases, crop failure and exile. Some verses appear to be later additions that elaborate beyond the original contrast pattern, and the section may originally have ended earlier.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Note stresses the full extent and hopelessness of this curse: the Lord strikes the very joints and limbs with a festering boil that cannot be cured, covering the entire body from foot to head with no part left untouched or any hope of recovery.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill emphasizes that the curse described involves a painful, incurable skin disease starting on the knees and legs, spreading upward to cover the entire body. He compares this to Job's suffering with boils and ulcers, noting that human medicine cannot heal it.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB identifies the affliction described here as a precise description of elephantiasis, a horrible disease resembling leprosy that primarily attacks the lower extremities. He emphasizes the accuracy of the biblical account in depicting this specific condition.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees the exhaustive listing of every blessing and curse as deliberate—it proves that nothing in life is accident or human achievement, but God directly rules every particular. For him religion here is not knowledge or worship but daily experience, one day teaching another. This moral framing strips earthly prosperity of its attraction and gives suffering its purpose toward repentance.