Deuteronomy 28:60 · Bible study
Deuteronomy 28:60 Commentary: The Return of Egypt's Plagues
Hebrew · 5 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
A study of Deuteronomy 28:60. Why God brings back the very diseases Israel feared, and what it means for covenant faithfulness.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Covenant reversal, the curses of Egypt return as punishment for disobedience.
- Key words: shuv (bring back), da.vaq (cling), mad.veh (disease).
- Main debate: Whether this describes literal physical disease or symbolic spiritual bondage.
- Theological theme: The logic of covenant blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 28 / Leviticus 26).
- Best use: A warning of the consequences of abandoning God’s commands, and a pointer to the curse borne by Christ on the cross.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you.
WEB World English Bible 2000
He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you.
KJV King James Version 1769
Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`And He hath brought back on thee all the diseases of Egypt, of the presence of which thou hast been afraid, and they have cleaved to thee;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
and he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou art afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And he shall bring back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y hará volver sobre ti todos los males de Egipto, delante de los cuales temiste, y se te pegarán.
E fará voltar sobre ti todos os males do Egito, diante dos quais temeste, e se te pegarão.
Il amènera sur toi toutes les maladies d’ Égypte, devant lesquelles tu tremblais; et elles s’ attacheront à toi.
und wird dir zuwenden alle Seuchen Ägyptens, davor du dich fürchtest, und sie werden dir anhangen;
En Hij zal op u doen keren alle kwalen van Egypte, voor dewelke gij gevreesd hebt, en zij zullen u aanhangen.
e farà tornare su te tutte le malattie d’Egitto, dinanzi alle quali tu tremavi, e s’attaccheranno a te.
I obróci na cię wszystkie choroby Egipskie, którycheś się lękał, i chwycą się ciebie.
и наведет на тебя все [злые] язвы Египетские, которых ты боялся, и они прилипнут к тебе;
也必使 你所 懼怕、埃及人的 病 都臨 到你，貼 在你身上，
He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Deuteronomy 28:60
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree this verse completes a deliberate reversal in the covenant narrative. Gill observes that the “diseases of Egypt” are the plagues of Exodus, leprosy, ulcers, the itch, which Israel witnessed and dreaded. The punishment is that these would cleave (da.vaq), clinging like a garment that cannot be removed. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges places the verse in the “further development of the curses” that follow a fresh statement of the condition for wrath, namely disobedience to the law. Ellicott’s Commentary explicitly contrasts this threat with the promise of Exodus 15:26, where obedience brought immunity. The consensus is that this is not a random plague but a return to the very condition from which God had delivered Israel. The judgment fits the crime of unbelief. This sober truth highlights the magnitude of what Christ later absorbed on behalf of the people of God.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Literal Historical View: Gill, Jewish tradition: specific plagues of the Exodus return upon the nation of Israel as a direct punishment.
- Typological View: Egypt represents the world; the diseases represent sins and their inescapable consequences apart from God.
- Covenantal View: This is the outworking of the covenant curse for disobedience within the old covenant community, reversed in Christ.
What is clear: The verse directly reverses the promise of Exodus 15:26 and functions as a severe warning within the Mosaic covenant.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Literal vs. Figurative Application | The text describes a real covenant judgment involving the specific historical plagues of Egypt. | Some traditions apply it strictly to physical plagues on the nation of Israel (Gill, Jewish exegetes). Others read it as describing the spiritual and temporal consequences of rejecting God's reign, where 'Egypt' represents the world of sin. |
| Divine Role in Causing Suffering | God is the subject of the verb; He actively brings back the diseases as a consequence of covenant breaking. | Some see this as God's direct punitive action. Others view it as God lifting his protective hand, allowing the natural consequences of a life outside his order to take effect. Both views affirm God’s sovereignty in the judgment. |
| Fulfillment in History | The curse was a real threat to Old Covenant Israel and carried out in her history. | Jewish and some Christian commentators (Ellicott) see a literal, ongoing fulfillment in the Jewish diaspora. Reformed and covenant theologians see the threat as fulfilled in the exile and ultimately judged at the cross, with the New Covenant providing a fundamentally different relationship with the law's curses. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Egypt was the land of plagues. The ten plagues of Exodus demonstrated Yahweh’s power over the gods and magicians of Egypt. Before leaving, Israel lived in Goshen, largely spared from these judgments, fulfilling a promise of separation (Exodus 8:22, 9:26). Deuteronomy 7:15 renewed this protection for the land of Canaan: “Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt… on you.” Deuteronomy 28:60 reverses that promise entirely.
The Hebrew verb shuv (“bring back”) is the same word used throughout the Old Testament for repentance and return. Its use here is ironic and pointed. The text declares that rejecting the covenant means returning to the sphere of slavery, disease, and death from which the exodus had rescued them. Ellicott notes on this passage that the plagues were of “long continuance” and saw them as active in the scattering of Israel across eighteen hundred years. The threat is not merely a new punishment, but the revival of an old one that Israel thought they had left behind forever. Egypt becomes less a geographical location and more a theological condition, the place outside God’s protective order. The verse thus serves as a permanent warning that deliverance must be received and lived out, not merely remembered.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Deuteronomy 28:60. The Hebrew text of the Masoretic tradition is stable here, with no major discrepancies among the major manuscripts and early translations.
Reception History
Jewish exegesis, reflected in Rashi and cited by Ellicott, saw this curse continuing in the exile and dispersion of Israel. Early Christian readers often allegorized Egypt as the world of sin; the diseases represented the passions and spiritual corruption that can reclaim a person who turns back from following Christ. Matthew Henry’s commentary treats the verse within the broader systematic framework of covenant blessings and curses, emphasizing that the threat serves to magnify the grace of the gospel. Across traditions, this verse has been read as a severe but necessary warning that the deliverance of the exodus was never automatic, it required a living response of faith and obedience.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Return of What You Feared. Israel was rescued from the plagues of Egypt. Disobedience reverses the exodus. The verb shuv means the very deliverance story is undone.
- The Sticky Nature of Judgment. The word da.vaq (“cling”) describes an inescapable grip. The blessing of clinging to God (Deut 10:20) is replaced by the curse of disease clinging to the body.
- The Hope of a Better Covenant. Christ bore the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). What once stuck to the disobedient as judgment now sticks to the Savior as substitution.
Five-point outline
- Remembered Judgment: Egypt becomes a memory that haunts rather than a history that saves.
- Feared Consequences: “Which you were afraid of” reveals that dread itself becomes a precursor to the judgment.
- Broken Immunity: The shield of the covenant is removed.
- Inescapable Grip: The diseases are not visitors; they are settlers.
- Fulfilled in Christ: The cross is the place where the grip of the curse is broken for good.
Illustration hooks
- A rescued patient who ignores the doctor's orders and returns to the habits that caused the disease, finding the symptoms back worse than before.
- A country that defeats an invading dictator only to elect the same kind of leader a generation later, voluntarily marching back into bondage.
- The relief of escaping a toxic workplace, followed by the horror of making the same compromises in the next job.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is every sickness a punishment from God?
- How can I be sure I am not under a curse?
- Does this verse apply to Christians today under the New Covenant?
Leading a Discussion
Deuteronomy 28:60 shows the Bible’s deep coherence. The promise of healing in Exodus 15:26 is threatened with a direct reversal here. To appreciate the scope of what Christ achieved, it helps to understand the weight of what was undone.
Discussion questions
- Read Exodus 15:26 and Deuteronomy 7:15. What promises did God give Israel regarding disease? How does knowing these promises change your reading of this curse?
- The Hebrew verb shuv (“bring back”) is the same word used for “repent.” Why is this word choice significant here?
- What does the phrase “diseases of Egypt” tell you about the specific nature of this curse? Why Egypt rather than any other nation?
- The word da.vaq (“cling”) is used in Genesis 2:24 for a husband cleaving to his wife. How does this image shape your understanding of the judgment described here?
- The New Testament says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). How does this sobering verse help you appreciate that redemption?
- In what specific ways might believers today be tempted to return to the “Egypt” of their old life?
- How does this passage move your heart toward gratitude for God's grace rather than toward fear of His judgment?
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)
| Exodus 15:26 | He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.” |
| Deuteronomy 7:15 | Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. |
| 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. |
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
5 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible School notes that while the substance of these curses fits a pre-exilic date, some phrasing may come from after the exile. The description of utter despair in banishment matches Psalm 137's anguish more than Jeremiah's advice to settle quietly in Babylon. Overall the section likely originated before the Babylonian exile.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights that God threatens to send the very diseases the Israelites once feared in Egypt, making their dread the instrument of punishment. These plagues will not merely pass over them but will cling permanently, refusing to let go.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill identifies these diseases as the same plagues and sicknesses God sent on Egypt, including ones the Israelites once feared catching while living there. His emphasis falls on the word "cleave": these judgments will not merely strike but cling, lingering with no easy cure.
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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry points out that Israel's punishment was a precise reversal of their sin. Because they refused to serve God with joyful hearts while enjoying every good thing, they would be forced to serve merciless enemies in desperate lack. The curses were not random but reflected the exact failure of their gratitude.