Deuteronomy 28:56

Summary

Deuteronomy 28:56 describes a woman among the people who is so rakah ("gentle", H7390) and 'anugah ("delicate", H6028) that she would not normally set the sole of her foot on the ground. The verse states that her eye "will become evil" (tera', H7489A) toward her husband, her son, and her daughter — a reaction attributed to the extremity of the hardship described in the surrounding curse passage.

Key words

• ra.Kah ("gentle [woman]", H7390) — feminine singular adjective with the definite article ha (H9009), describing the woman's constitution.
• 'a.nu.Gah ("delicate [woman]", H6028) — parallel feminine adjective, also with the article, forming a pair with rakah.
• ni.se.Tah ("she has attempted", H5254H) — piel perfect, an intensive verb form indicating a completed attempt; negated by lo' ("not", H3808) to mean she has never tried.
• ha.Tzeg ("to place", H3322) — hiphil infinitive, a causative form meaning "to cause to be set," here referring to setting the foot down.
• hit.'a.Neg ("was delicate", H6026) — hithpael infinitive, reflexive form denoting self-indulgent delicateness, giving the cause (me-, "because", H9006) of her behavior.
• te.Ra' ("it will be evil", H7489A) — qal imperfect, third person feminine, describing a future/ongoing state affecting "her eye" ('einah, construct + suffix H5869A/H9024).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with two feminine adjectives, ha-rakah ("the gentle [woman]", H7390) and ve-ha-'anugah ("and the delicate [woman]", H6028), both carrying the definite article, which functions here to single out a specific type of woman within the addressed group (bekha, "among you", H9031, masculine singular suffix referring to the collective "you" of the covenant community). A relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who", H0834A) elaborates on her delicateness: she is one who has not (lo', H3808) "attempted" (nissetah, piel perfect, H5254H) the hatzeg ("placing", hiphil infinitive, H3322) of "the sole of her foot" (khaf-raglah, construct chain, H3709H/H7272/H9024) "on the ground" ('al ha-'aretz, H0776H). Two causal prepositional phrases follow, me-hit'anneg ("because of being delicate", hithpael infinitive, H6026) and u-me-rokh ("and because of gentleness", H7391), both governed by min ("because/from", H9006), giving the reason for her avoidance of the ground.

The main clause then shifts to the verb tera' ("it will be evil", qal imperfect, H7489A), whose subject is 'einah ("her eye", construct + suffix, H5869A/H9024). The verb takes the preposition be- ("on/against", H9003) three times, each introducing a construct phrase: 'ish cheiqah ("the husband of her bosom", H0376H/H2436G/H9024), binah ("her son", H1121A/H9024), and bittah ("her daughter", H1323G/H9024). The construct chains (foot/sole, husband/bosom) are typical of Biblical Hebrew's way of building compound descriptive phrases without adjectives.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tera' with βασκανεῖ ("will begrudge/cast an evil eye"), matching the Hebrew idiom of the eye becoming evil. The Vulgate uses invidebit ("will envy/begrudge"), also preserving the "evil eye" sense but stating it more directly as envy rather than describing the eye itself. The Vulgate additionally adds "propter mollitiem et teneritudinem nimiam" ("because of excessive softness and tenderness"), an expanded doublet corresponding to the Hebrew's me-hit'anneg u-me-rokh phrase.