Deuteronomy 28:42

Summary

The verse states that "the locust" (or, in the ancient versions, "blight/rust") will take possession of all the trees and produce of the addressee's land. The Hebrew verb used for this action is not a verb of eating or destroying but one normally used for taking possession of territory.

Key words

• yeyaresh ("it will take possession of", H3423) — Piel imperfect of the root meaning "to possess, inherit, dispossess." The imperfect marks future/ongoing aspect; the Piel intensifies the action of the root normally associated with inheriting land.
• tzelatzal ("locust", H6767) — masculine singular noun with the definite article ha ("the"), naming the subject that performs the action of yeyaresh.
• kol-'etzkha ("all your tree[s]", H3605 + H6086) — construct chain, "all of" + "tree of you," placed at the very front of the clause as the grammatical object.
• u-feri 'admatekha ("and the fruit of your ground", H6529 + H127) — a second construct chain coordinated with the first by u ("and", H9002), continuing the fronted object.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is built with the object placed before the verb and subject: kol-'etzkha u-feri 'admatekha ("all your tree and the fruit of your ground") comes first, followed by the verb yeyaresh ("it will take possession of"), and only then the subject ha-tzelatzal ("the locust"). This word order foregrounds what is affected — the trees and produce — before naming the agent responsible.

The verb yeyaresh (H3423) belongs to the same root used elsewhere for Israel "possessing" or "inheriting" land taken from previous occupants. Its use here with tzelatzal as subject casts the locust's action in terms of dispossession or takeover, rather than simple consumption or eating, which is the sense conveyed by the Greek and Latin verbs discussed below.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew subject tzelatzal (H6767) is rendered in the LXX as ἐρυσίβη and in the Vulgate as rubigo, both of which denote "blight" or "rust" (a plant disease), not an insect. The modern translations shown (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) instead render tzelatzal as "locust"/"langosta," aligning with the Hebrew noun's conventional gloss rather than the LXX/Vulgate's disease-based rendering.

The verb also diverges: the Hebrew yeyaresh ("will take possession of") is translated in the LXX as ἐξαναλώσει ("will consume utterly") and in the Vulgate as consumet ("will consume"), both shifting the verbal sense from possession/takeover to destruction by consumption.