Deuteronomy 28:44

King James Version

He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

Hebrew Names Version
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Lexham English Bible
He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail.

English Standard Version
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

New Century Version
Foreigners will lend money to you, but you will not be able to lend to them. They will be like the head, and you will be like the tail.

New English Translation
They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

Amplified Bible
"He will lend to you [out of his affluence], but you will not lend to him [because of your poverty]; he will be the head, and you the tail.

New American Standard Bible
"He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

Geneva Bible (1587)
He shall lend thee, and thou shalt not lend him: he shalbe the head, & thou shalt be ye tayle.

Legacy Standard Bible
He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

Contemporary English Version
You will be so short of money that you will have to borrow from those foreigners. They will be the leaders in the community, and you will be the followers.

Complete Jewish Bible
He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you the tail.

Darby Translation
He shall lend to thee, but thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Easy-to-Read Version
The foreigners will have money to loan you, but you will not have any money to loan them. They will control you the way the head controls the body. You will be like the tail.

George Lamsa Translation
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Good News Translation
They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers.

Literal Translation
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He shal lende vnto the, but thou shalt not lende him. He shalbe before, but thou shalt be behynde.

American Standard Version
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Bible in Basic English
He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
He shall lende thee, and thou shalt not lende him: he shalbe the head, and thou shalt be the tayle.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

King James Version (1611)
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall bee the head, and thou shalt be the taile.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

English Revised Version
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Berean Standard Bible
He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He schal leene to thee, and thou schalt not leene to hym; he schal be in to the heed, and thou schalt be in to the tail.

Young's Literal Translation
he doth lend [to] thee, and thou dost not lend [to] him; he is for head, and thou art for tail.

Update Bible Version
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Webster's Bible Translation
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

World English Bible
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

New King James Version
He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

New Living Translation
They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

New Life Bible
He will give to you. But you will not give to him. He will be the head and you will be the tail.

New Revised Standard
They shall lend to you but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head and you shall be the tail.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
he, shall lend to thee, but, thou, shalt not lend to him, - he, shall become head, and, thou, shalt become tail.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Revised Standard Version
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: ¹⁶ Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. ¹⁹ Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ²⁰ The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. ²² The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. ²³ And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 28:12, Deuteronomy 28:13, Lamentations 1:5

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 15:6 - thou shalt lend Psalms 37:21 - borroweth Lamentations 2:17 - he hath caused Lamentations 3:45 - as

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He shall lend to thee, and thou shall not lend to him,.... The stranger, or one of another nation, shall be in a capacity of lending to the Jew, when the Jew would not be able to lend to the Gentile, his circumstances being so low and mean; to show which is the design of the expression, and not the kindness or unkindness of either; see Deuteronomy 28:12;

he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail; he shall be ruler and governor, and thou shalt be subject to him; see Deuteronomy 28:13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The curses correspond in form and number Deuteronomy 28:15-19 to the blessings Deuteronomy 28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deuteronomy 28:20-68.

Deuteronomy 28:20-26

First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war.

Deuteronomy 28:20

Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the original is used Deuteronomy 7:23; 1 Samuel 14:20 for the panic and disorder with which the curse of God smites His foes.

Deuteronomy 28:22

“Blasting” denotes (compare Genesis 41:23) the result of the scorching east wind; “mildew” that of an untimely blight falling on the green ear, withering it and marring its produce.

Deuteronomy 28:24

When the heat is very great the atmosphere in Palestine is often filled with dust and sand; the wind is a burning sirocco, and the air comparable to the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace.

Deuteronomy 28:25

Shalt be removed - See the margin. The threat differs from that in Leviticus 26:33, which refers to a dispersion of the people among the pagan. Here it is meant that they should be tossed to and fro at the will of others, driven from one country to another without any certain settlement.

Deuteronomy 28:27-37

Second series of judgments on the body, mind, and outward circumstances of the sinners.

Deuteronomy 28:27

The “botch” (rather “boil;” see Exodus 9:9), the “emerods” or tumors 1Sa 5:6, 1 Samuel 5:9, the “scab” and “itch” represent the various forms of the loathsome skin diseases which are common in Syria and Egypt.

Deuteronomy 28:28

Mental maladies shah be added to those sore bodily plagues, and should Deuteronomy 28:29-34 reduce the sufferers to powerlessness before their enemies and oppressors.

Blindness - Most probably mental blindness; compare Lamentations 4:14; Zep 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:14 ff.

Deuteronomy 28:30-33

See the marginal references for the fulfillment of these judgments.

Deuteronomy 28:38-48

Third series of judgments, affecting every kind of labor and enterprise until it had accomplished the total ruin of the nation, and its subjection to its enemies.

Deuteronomy 28:39

Worms - i. e. the vine-weevil. Naturalists prescribed elaborate precautions against its ravages.

Deuteronomy 28:40

Cast ... - Some prefer “shall be spoiled” or “plundered.”

Deuteronomy 28:43, Deuteronomy 28:44

Contrast Deuteronomy 28:12 and Deuteronomy 28:13.

Deuteronomy 28:46

Forever - Yet “the remnant” Romans 9:27; Romans 11:5 would by faith and obedience become a holy seed.

Deuteronomy 28:49-58

Fourth series of judgments, descriptive of the calamities and horrors which should ensue when Israel should be subjugated by its foreign foes.

Deuteronomy 28:49

The description (compare the marginal references) applies undoubtedly to the Chaldeans, and in a degree to other nations also whom God raised up as ministers of vengeance upon apostate Israel (e. g. the Medes). But it only needs to read this part of the denunciation, and to compare it with the narrative of Josephus, to see that its full and exact accomplishment took place in the wars of Vespasian and Titus against the Jews, as indeed the Jews themselves generally admit.

The eagle - The Roman ensign; compare Matthew 24:28; and consult throughout this passage the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:54

Evil - i. e. grudging; compare Deuteronomy 15:9.

Deuteronomy 28:57

Young one - The “afterbirth” (see the margin). The Hebrew text in fact suggests an extremity of horror which the King James Version fails to exhibit. Compare 2 Kings 6:29.

Deuteronomy 28:58-68

Fifth series of judgments. The uprooting of Israel from the promised land, and its dispersion among other nations. Examine the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:58

In this book - i. e. in the book of the Law, or the Pentateuch in so far as it contains commands of God to Israel. Deuteronomy is included, but not exclusively intended. So Deuteronomy 28:61; compare Deuteronomy 27:3 and note, Deuteronomy 31:9.

Deuteronomy 28:66

Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee - i. e. shall be hanging as it were on a thread, and that before thine own eyes. The fathers regard this passage as suggesting in a secondary or mystical sense Christ hanging on the cross, as the life of the Jews who would not believe in Him.

Deuteronomy 28:68

This is the climax. As the Exodus from Egypt was as it were the birth of the nation into its covenant relationship with God, so the return to the house of bondage is in like manner the death of it. The mode of conveyance, “in ships,” is added to heighten the contrast. They crossed the sea from Egypt with a high hand. the waves being parted before them. They should go back again cooped up in slaveships.

There ye shall be sold - Rather, “there shall ye offer yourselves, or be offered for sale.” This denunciation was literally fulfilled on more than one occasion: most signally when many thousand Jews were sold into slavery and sent into Egypt by Titus; but also under Hadrian, when numbers were sold at Rachel’s grave Genesis 35:19.

No man shall buy you - i. e. no one shall venture even to employ you as slaves, regarding you as accursed of God, and to be shunned in everything.