Deuteronomy 28:27

27 percutiat te Dominus ulcere Aegypti et parte corporis per quam stercora digeruntur scabie quoque et prurigine ita ut curari nequeas

Deuteronomy 28:27 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:27

The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt
Which some understand of the leprosy, Of that sort of it called "elephantiasis", frequent among the Egyptians; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:2). Thevenot F9 relates, that when the time of the increase of the Nile expires, the Egyptians are attended with sharp prickings in their skin like needles. So Vansleb says F11,

``the waters of the Nile cause an itch in the skin, which troubles such as drink of them when the river increases. This itch is very small, and appears first about the arms, next upon the stomach, and spreads all about the body, which causes a grievous pain; and not only the river water, but that out of the cisterns drank of, brings it, and it lasts about six weeks.''

Though some take this botch to be the botch and blain which the Egyptians were plagued with for refusing to let Israel go, ( Exodus 9:9 Exodus 9:10 ) ;

and with the emerods;
or haemorrhoids, the piles, a disease of the fundament, attended sometimes with ulcers there; see ( 1 Samuel 5:9 ) ;

and with the scab and with the itch:
the one moist, the other dry, and both very distressing:

whereof thou canst not be healed;
by any art of men; which shows these to be uncommon ones, and from the immediate hand of God.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 426, 427.
F11 Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 35, 36.

Deuteronomy 28:27 In-Context

25 tradat te Dominus corruentem ante hostes tuos per unam viam egrediaris contra eos et per septem fugias et dispergaris per omnia regna terrae
26 sitque cadaver tuum in escam cunctis volatilibus caeli et bestiis terrae et non sit qui abigat
27 percutiat te Dominus ulcere Aegypti et parte corporis per quam stercora digeruntur scabie quoque et prurigine ita ut curari nequeas
28 percutiat te Dominus amentia et caecitate ac furore mentis
29 et palpes in meridie sicut palpare solet caecus in tenebris et non dirigas vias tuas omnique tempore calumniam sustineas et opprimaris violentia nec habeas qui liberet te
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.