Deuteronomy 28:27 is a warning, not a promise. It says that if Israel turned away from the covenant and broke faith with the LORD, God would allow severe, incurable diseases to fall on the people, diseases the nation associated with Egypt. Moses spoke these words to the Israelites as they stood on the edge of the Promised Land, reminding them of the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience.
The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.
Deuteronomy 28:27 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 28:27 Means
The verse names several kinds of painful skin and body afflictions: boils, tumors, scurvy, and itch. The phrase “boils of Egypt” points back to the plagues the LORD sent on Egypt in Exodus, so the listener would recognize these as the kind of judgment that had once fallen on a hardened nation. The words “of which you can not be healed” stress that no human remedy would work. The sickness would be beyond the reach of ordinary medicine.
What the verse does not do is promise that every sick person is being punished for sin. It describes a particular covenant consequence, spoken to a whole nation under a specific agreement. Read as a universal rule about every illness, it goes beyond what Moses said. Its real force is to show that the covenant had weight, and that the relationship with God carried real consequences in the life of the community.
The Context of Deuteronomy 28:27
Deuteronomy is presented as Moses’ farewell address to Israel before they enter Canaan. Tradition attributes the book to Moses, and it is addressed to the generation that was about to cross the Jordan. Chapter 28 is the climax of a long section setting out blessings for faithfulness and curses for rebellion, a pattern similar to the treaty documents of the ancient Near East, where a great king’s covenant with a vassal listed rewards and penalties.
The verses just before and after describe a collapse of ordinary life: failed harvests, defeat before enemies, and people wandering among the nations. Verse 27 sits in the middle of this list, and it reads more clearly when seen as one link in a chain of judgments that would fall on a people who had abandoned their God. The verse shows what covenant unfaithfulness would cost the nation, and that cost is laid out in full so that the people would take the covenant seriously.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 28:27
Exodus 15:26
And he said, “If you will diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
(WEB)
This verse comes from the same Egypt-centered memory and presents the LORD as the one who heals His people when they listen and keep His commands. Reading it alongside Deuteronomy 28:27 shows that the same God who can send affliction also offers health and restoration to a faithful people.
Psalm 103:2-3
2 Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits; 3 who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases…
(WEB)
David calls his soul to remember the LORD’s benefits, including healing and forgiveness. Set beside Deuteronomy 28:27, these lines reveal the gracious side of the covenant relationship, where God’s care and healing flow to those who return to Him.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 28:27
Lord, you are holy and faithful, and your covenant with your people is serious and good. When I read the warnings of Deuteronomy, I am reminded that I cannot take your love for granted. Search my heart and show me where I have drifted. Give me a steady desire to walk in your ways, and help me trust you whether life brings health or hardship. Be my healer and my hope. Amen.
