Deuteronomy 28:27

Summary

The verse announces that Yehovah will strike the addressee with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies — skin afflictions for which no cure will be possible. It is part of a series of curses listed in the chapter.

Key words

• yakkekhah ("he will strike you", H5221) — Hiphil (causative) imperfect, third person, with second-person masculine singular suffix built into the verb form; expresses a future/ongoing causative action directed at "you."
• shechin ("boil[s] of", H7822) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following noun ("boils of Egypt") rather than standing alone.
• techorim ("tumors", H2914) — masculine plural noun, one of four skin conditions listed, each joined by the conjunction u- ("and") and preceded by the preposition ba- ("with the").
• garav ("eczema", H1618) — masculine singular noun, third item in the list of afflictions.
• lo tukhal le-hera'fe ("you will not be able to be healed", H3808 + H3201 + H7495) — negation plus Qal imperfect verb ("you will be able") plus Niphal infinitive ("to be healed"); the Niphal form marks the healing as something done to the subject (passive), not something the subject performs.

What the text says

The sentence opens with a single verb, yakkekhah ("he will strike you", H5221), in the Hiphil stem, which is causative — the subject Yehovah is presented as the direct cause of the striking, not merely an agent who allows it. The suffix on the verb already contains the object "you," so the pronoun is not a separate word in the Hebrew but is embedded morphologically.

Following the verb, four ailments are listed, each introduced by the preposition be- ("with," H9003), sometimes fused with the article: shechin mitzrayim ("boil of Egypt", H7822 + H4714G), techorim ("tumors", H2914), garav ("eczema", H1618), and cheres ("scabies", H2775B). The first noun, shechin, is in construct state with mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4714G), producing "boil of Egypt" — a fixed expression rather than four independent, freestanding illnesses; the remaining three are simple nouns joined by repeated "and...with the" (u-va-) constructions, giving a rhythmic, escalating list.

The final clause uses a relative particle, asher ("which", H0834A), to attach a description to the whole preceding list: "which you will not be able to be healed." The verb tukhal ("you will be able", H3201) is Qal imperfect, describing ordinary future ability, while the following infinitive he-rafe ("to be healed", H7495) is Niphal, a passive/reflexive stem indicating that the healing would be received rather than performed by the subject.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shechin mitzrayim with an added phrase, "ἕλκει Αἰγυπτίῳ εἰς τὴν ἕδραν" ("ulcer of Egypt, in the seat/anus"), specifying a bodily location not present in the Hebrew construct phrase. The Vulgate similarly expands with "partem corporis, per quam stercora egeruntur" ("the part of the body through which excrement is expelled"), an explanatory addition absent from the Hebrew text, which simply reads shechin mitzrayim ("boil of Egypt").