Deuteronomy 32:23

heap According as we point the consonants of this vb., it may mean add, or gather, or sweep up; evils, Deuteronomy 31:17.

24, 25 define the arrowsof Deuteronomy 32:23 famine, fever, plague, wild beasts and poisonous, and war.

24 a. The rhythm is irregular whether for a line or couplet, and the text uncertain, the first and last words are only found here and their sense is conjectural.

From Sam. it is possible to read the first word mizzĕh, on this side, and to reconstruct the whole as a regular couplet yielding the kind of antithesis beloved by the writer (Deuteronomy 32:21; Deuteronomy 32:25) and free of the ἄπαξ λεγόμενα

mizzeh rá-ab yilham On this side famine devours, mizzeh rĕshĕph W e kétĕl On this side fever and plague. Wastedis a meaning drawn from a doubtful Ar. analogy; burning heat, Heb. resheph, fire-boltor flameas God's instrument of fever, in Habakkuk 3:5 parallel to pestilence.

24 b. beasts Heb. Behemôth. For this natural curse of the East cp. Deuteronomy 7:22; Hosea 2:12. The contrast in Isaiah 11:6-9.

crawling things Micah 7:17, cp. Isaiah 11:8; Jeremiah 8:17.