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22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol;[a]
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will increase their[b] disasters;
I will use up my arrows on them.
24 They will be starved by famine,
eaten by plague, and bitterly stung;[c]
I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,
along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 32:22 tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”sn Sheol refers here not to hell and hell-fire—a much later concept—but to the innermost parts of the earth, as low down as one could get. The parallel with “the foundations of the mountains” makes this clear (cf. Pss 9:17; 16:10; 139:8; Isa 14:9, 15; Amos 9:2).
  2. Deuteronomy 32:23 tn Heb “upon them.”
  3. Deuteronomy 32:24 tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).

22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,(A)
    one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.(B)
It will devour(C) the earth and its harvests(D)
    and set afire the foundations of the mountains.(E)

23 “I will heap calamities(F) on them
    and spend my arrows(G) against them.
24 I will send wasting famine(H) against them,
    consuming pestilence(I) and deadly plague;(J)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,(K)
    the venom of vipers(L) that glide in the dust.(M)

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