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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 32:23 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| De 32:23 |
King James |
I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| I will spend mine arrows upon them--War, famine, pestilence (Psa 77:17) are called in Scripture the arrows of the Almighty. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Spend mine arrows - Even empty my quiver, and send upon them all my plagues, which, like arrows shot by a skilful and strong hand, shall speedily reach and certainly hit and mortally wound them. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
I will spend mine arrows upon them - The judgments of God in general are termed the arrows of God, Job 6:4; Psa 38:2, Psa 38:3; Psa 91:5; see also Eze 5:16; Jer 50:14; Sa2 22:14, Sa2 22:15. In this and the following verses, to the 28th inclusive, (Deu 32:23-28), God threatens this people with every species of calamity that could possibly fall upon man. How strange it is that, having this law continually in their hands, they should not discern those threatened judgments, and cleave to the Lord that they might be averted!
It was customary among the heathens to represent any judgment from their gods under the notion of arrows, especially a pestilence; and one of their greatest deities, Apollo, is ever represented as bearing a bow and quiver full of deadly arrows; so Homer, Il. i., ver. 43, where he represents him, in answer to the prayer of his priest Chryses, coming to smite the Greeks with the pestilence: -
Ὡς εφατ' ευχομενος· του δ' εκλυε Φοιβος Απολλων·
Βη δε κατ' Ουλυμποιο καρηνων χωομενος κηρ,
Τοξ' ωμοισιν εχων αμφηρεφεα τε φαρετρην. -
Ἑζετ' επειτ' απανευθε νεων· μετα δ' ιον ἑηκε·
Δεινη δε κλαγγη γενετ' αργυρεοιο βιοιο. κ. τ. λ.
"Thus Chryses pray'd; the favoring power attends,
And from Olympus' lofty tops descends.
Bent was his bow the Grecian hearts to wound;
Fierce as he moved, his silver shafts resound; -
The fleet in view, he twang'd his deadly' bow,
And hissing fly the feather'd fates below.
On mules and dogs the infection first began;
And last the vengeful arrows fix'd in man."
How frequently the same figure is employed in the sacred writings, every careful reader knows; and quotations need not be multiplied. |
17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
14 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
2 For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.