Deuteronomy 28:51

Summary

The verse describes the total consumption of a people's agricultural and animal wealth by an invading force, continuing until the population itself is destroyed. Two parallel "until" clauses frame the totality of the loss: first the livestock and land produce, then specific staples and animal offspring.

Key words

• 'a.khal ("it will devour", H0398) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of the oracle describing the enemy's actions.
• pe.Ri ("[the] fruit of", H6529) — masculine singular construct, used twice (lines 3 and 7) to link "fruit" to both livestock and ground, creating a parallel structure.
• hi.sha.me.do ("being destroyed", H8045) — niphal infinitive with pronominal suffix -kha ("you"), marking the first temporal endpoint ("until your being destroyed").
• yash.'Ir ("it will leave", H7604) — hiphil imperfect, causative form indicating the enemy actively causes a state of "not leaving" (i.e., taking everything).
• ha.'a.vi.D ("destroys", H0006) — hiphil infinitive with 3rd person suffix -o ("it/his"), forming the second "until" clause marking total destruction.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain introduced by the narrative vav on 'a.khal ("and it will devour", H0398), continuing a sequence of verbs describing the actions of an invading power mentioned earlier in the passage. The object of devouring is expressed through two construct chains: pe.Ri ("fruit of", H6529) governing first behemte-kha ("your livestock", H0929) and then 'admate-kha ("your ground", H0127G). This produces a literal sense of "the fruit of your livestock" (its offspring) and "the fruit of your ground" (its produce), both introduced by the same construct noun for parallel structure.

The first 'ad ("until", H5704) clause uses the niphal infinitive hi.sha.me.do ("your being destroyed", H8045), a passive/reflexive form indicating the subject undergoes destruction rather than causing it. The second half of the verse shifts to a new hiphil imperfect verb, yash.'Ir ("it will leave", H7604), governed by the negation lo' ("not", H3808), listing specific items that will not remain: da.Gan ("grain", H1715), ti.Ro.osh ("new wine", H8492), yitz.Har ("fresh oil", H3323), and the construct phrases she.Gar 'a.la.Fei.kha ("the young of your cattle", H7698/H0504) and 'ash.te.Rot tzo.Ne.kha ("the young ones of your sheep", H6251/H6629G). The verse closes with a second 'ad clause, this time using the hiphil infinitive ha.'a.vi.D ("destroys", H0006) with a 3rd person suffix -o ("it/his") plus the direct object marker 'o.Ta-kh ("you", H0853), shifting agency explicitly onto the destroyer's action upon "you."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verbs in plural future forms (κατέδεται, "it will eat" — singular though; τὰ βουκόλια, "the herds") and shifts some construct phrases into descriptive nouns, e.g., she.Gar 'a.la.Fei.kha ("the young of your cattle", H7698/H0504) becomes τὰ βουκόλια τῶν βοῶν σου ("the herds of your oxen"), losing the specific sense of "offspring." The Vulgate similarly renders she.Gar 'a.la.Fei.kha as "armenta boum" ("herds of oxen"), generalizing the term for young animals into a broader term for herds. Both LXX and Vulgate use plural or generalized subjects for the destroying agent where the Hebrew maintains third-person singular verb forms ('a.khal, H0398; yash.'Ir, H7604), reflecting a collective or unspecified enemy rather than a named singular subject.