◄ Deuteronomy 28:39 ►
You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
Study Bible
You will plant and cultivate vineyards,

In ancient Israel, vineyards were a symbol of prosperity and blessing. Planting and cultivating vineyards required significant labor and investment, reflecting the hope of a fruitful harvest. The Israelites were familiar with the process of viticulture, as the land of Canaan was well-suited for grape growing. This phrase indicates the effort and expectation of a bountiful yield, which was a common agricultural practice in the region. The vineyard is often used in Scripture as a metaphor for Israel itself, as seen in Isaiah 5:1-7, where God describes Israel as His vineyard.

Isa 5:2 He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes…
Amo 9:14 I will restore My people Israel from captivity;…
Isa 65:21-22 They will build houses and dwell in them;…

but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes,

This phrase highlights the futility of the Israelites' labor due to disobedience. Despite their hard work, they would not enjoy the fruits of their labor. This is a direct consequence of the covenant curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28, where blessings and curses are contingent upon Israel's obedience to God's commandments. The inability to enjoy the produce of one's vineyard is a reversal of the blessings promised in Deuteronomy 28:4, where the fruit of the ground is a sign of God's favor. This also echoes the curse in Leviticus 26:16, where God warns of sowing seed in vain.

Mic 6:15 You will sow but not reap; you will press olives…
Amo 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor…
Hos 9:2 The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,…

because worms will eat them.

The mention of worms consuming the grapes signifies a natural disaster or pestilence as a form of divine judgment. In the agrarian society of ancient Israel, such infestations would be devastating, leading to economic hardship and food scarcity. This imagery of destruction by worms is reminiscent of the locust plagues described in Joel 1:4, where the land is ravaged by successive waves of locusts. The use of worms here underscores the totality of the loss and serves as a reminder of the consequences of turning away from God's commandments. This also foreshadows the ultimate judgment and restoration themes found in the prophetic books, where God promises to restore what the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25).

Isa 51:8 For the moth will devour them like a garment,…
Jon 4:7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm…
Psa 105:34-35 He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number.…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The author of Deuteronomy, delivering God's laws and blessings/curses to the Israelites.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, receiving the covenant and its stipulations.

3. Promised Land
The land of Canaan, which the Israelites are about to enter, flowing with milk and honey.

4. Vineyards
Symbolic of prosperity and blessing, representing the agricultural abundance in the Promised Land.

5. Worms
Representing the curse and consequence of disobedience, consuming the fruits of labor.
Teaching Points
Obedience and Consequences
The verse underscores the principle that disobedience to God's commands leads to loss and futility. Just as the Israelites would labor in vain due to disobedience, we too face consequences when we stray from God's path.

The Fragility of Earthly Prosperity
Earthly blessings, such as vineyards, are temporary and can be easily lost. This reminds us to prioritize spiritual wealth over material gain.

Dependence on God
The inability to enjoy the fruits of their labor serves as a reminder of our dependence on God for provision and protection. True security is found in Him alone.

Spiritual Fruitfulness
In contrast to the physical loss described, believers are called to bear spiritual fruit by abiding in Christ, ensuring that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Repentance and Restoration
While this verse speaks of judgment, it also implicitly invites repentance. God's desire is for His people to return to Him and experience restoration and blessing.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Deuteronomy 28:39 illustrate the consequences of disobedience, and what are some modern examples of this principle?

2. In what ways can we ensure that our "vineyards" (efforts and endeavors) are fruitful and not consumed by "worms" (futility)?

3. How does the metaphor of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 and John 15 deepen our understanding of God's expectations for His people?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced the fragility of earthly prosperity. How did it affect your relationship with God?

5. How can the principle of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:7 be applied to our daily lives to encourage obedience and faithfulness?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 26
This chapter also outlines blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, paralleling the themes in Deuteronomy 28.

Isaiah 5
The vineyard metaphor is used to describe Israel's unfaithfulness and the resulting judgment.

John 15
Jesus speaks of Himself as the true vine, emphasizing the importance of abiding in Him to bear fruit.

Galatians 6:7
The principle of sowing and reaping, highlighting the consequences of one's actions.
Sermons
The Nemesis of DisloyaltyD. Davies Deuteronomy 28:15-44
The CurseJ. Orr Deuteronomy 28:15-48
A Nation Becoming a BeaconR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 28:15-68
God, Ruler in NatureJ. Orr Deuteronomy 28:37-42
People
Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt
Topics
Care, Consume, Cultivate, Devour, Dress, Drink, Eat, Fruit, Gather, Grapes, Hast, Laboured, Plant, Till, Vines, Vineyards, Wine, Worm, Worms
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 28:39

     4458   grape
     4538   vineyard

Deuteronomy 28:15-42

     5825   cruelty, God's attitude

Deuteronomy 28:15-68

     5827   curse
     6026   sin, judgment on
     7520   dispersion, the

Deuteronomy 28:38-40

     4492   olive
     4510   sowing and reaping
     4823   famine, physical

Deuteronomy 28:38-42

     4506   seed

Deuteronomy 28:38-51

     4544   wine

Library
A Choice of Masters
'Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies ... in want of all things: and He shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until He have destroyed thee.'--DEUT. xxviii. 47, 48 The history of Israel is a picture on the large scale of what befalls every man. A service--we are all born to obedience, to depend on and follow some person or thing. There is only a choice of services; and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Blessing and Cursing
(Preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, Ash Wednesday, 1860.) Deuteronomy xxviii. 15. It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Many good people are pained by the Commination Service which we have just heard read. They dislike to listen to it. They cannot say 'Amen' to its awful words. It seems to them …
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons

Strength Profaned and Lost
'But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. 22, Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sin of Unbelief
However, the lord on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We hear not that any of the common people, the plebeians, ever did so; but an aristocrat did it. Strange it is, that God has seldom chosen the great men of this world. High places and faith in Christ do seldom well agree. This great man said, "Impossible!" and, with an insult to the prophet, he added, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be." His sin lay in the fact, that after repeated seals of Elisha's …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Promises and Threatenings
'And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do. 2. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Secondly, for Thy Words.
1. Remember, that thou must answer for every idle word, that in multiloquy, the wisest man shall overshoot himself. Avoid, therefore, all tedious and idle talk, from which seldom arises comfort, many times repentance: especially beware of rash answers, when the tongue outruns the mind. The word was thine whilst thou didst keep it in; it is another's as soon as it is out. O the shame, when a man's own tongue shall be produced a witness, to the confusion of his own face! Let, then, thy words be few, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Vehicles of Revelation; Scripture, the Church, Tradition.
(a) The supreme and unique revelation of God to man is in the Person of the Incarnate Son. But though unique the Incarnation is not solitary. Before it there was the divine institution of the Law and the Prophets, the former a typical anticipation (de Incarn. 40. 2) of the destined reality, and along with the latter (ib. 12. 2 and 5) for all the world a holy school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the soul.' After it there is the history of the life and teaching of Christ and the writings …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

The Third Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.' Exod 20: 7. This commandment has two parts: 1. A negative expressed, that we must not take God's name in vain; that is, cast any reflections and dishonour on his name. 2. An affirmative implied. That we should take care to reverence and honour his name. Of this latter I shall speak more fully, under the first petition in the Lord's Prayer, Hallowed be thy name.' I shall …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

That Whereas the City of Jerusalem had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, this was the Second Time of Its Desolation. A Brief Account of Its History.
1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been taken five [34] times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years and …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

The Second Coming of Christ.
^A Matt. XXIV. 29-51; ^B Mark XIII. 24-37; ^C Luke XXI. 25-36. ^b 24 But in those days, ^a immediately after the { ^b that} ^a tribulation of those days. [Since the coming of Christ did not follow close upon the destruction of Jerusalem, the word "immediately" used by Matthew is somewhat puzzling. There are, however, three ways in which it may be explained: 1. That Jesus reckons the time after his own divine, and not after our human, fashion. Viewing the word in this light, the passage at II. Pet. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Paul's Departure and Crown;
OR, AN EXPOSITION UPON 2 TIM. IV. 6-8 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR How great and glorious is the Christian's ultimate destiny--a kingdom and a crown! Surely it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what ear never heard, nor mortal eye ever saw? the mansions of the blest--the realms of glory--'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' For whom can so precious an inheritance be intended? How are those treated in this world who are entitled to so glorious, so exalted, so eternal, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Writings of St. Ambrose.
The extant writings of St. Ambrose may be divided under six heads. I. Dogmatic; II. Exegetic; III. Moral; IV. Sermons; V. Letters; VI. A few Hymns. I. Dogmatic and Controversial Works. 1. De Fide. The chief of these are the Five Books on the Faith, of which the two first were written in compliance with a request of the Emperor Gratian, a.d. 378. Books III.-V. were written in 379 or 380, and seem to have been worked up from addresses delivered to the people [V. prol. 9, 11; III. 143; IV. 119]. This …
St. Ambrose—Works and Letters of St. Ambrose

Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

The Hindrances to Mourning
What shall we do to get our heart into this mourning frame? Do two things. Take heed of those things which will stop these channels of mourning; put yourselves upon the use of all means that will help forward holy mourning. Take heed of those things which will stop the current of tears. There are nine hindrances of mourning. 1 The love of sin. The love of sin is like a stone in the pipe which hinders the current of water. The love of sin makes sin taste sweet and this sweetness in sin bewitches the …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold.
^A Matt. XXIV. 1-28; ^B Mark XIII. 1-23; ^C Luke XXI. 5-24. ^a 1 And Jesus went out from the temple [leaving it to return no more], and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him ^b as he went forth ^a to show him the buildings of the temple. ^b one of his disciples saith unto him, Teacher, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! ^c 5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said [The strength and wealth of the temple roused …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

In Death and after Death
A sadder picture could scarcely be drawn than that of the dying Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, that "light of Israel" immediately before and after the destruction of the Temple, and for two years the president of the Sanhedrim. We read in the Talmud (Ber. 28 b) that, when his disciples came to see him on his death-bed, he burst into tears. To their astonished inquiry why he, "the light of Israel, the right pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer," betrayed such signs of fear, he replied: "If I were …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
The duty of Covenanting is founded on the law of nature; but it also stands among the arrangements of Divine mercy made from everlasting. The promulgation of the law, enjoining it on man in innocence as a duty, was due to God's necessary dominion over the creatures of his power. The revelation of it as a service obligatory on men in a state of sin, arose from his unmerited grace. In the one display, we contemplate the authority of the righteous moral Governor of the universe; in the other, we see …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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