John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 28:21

"Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it." — Deuteronomy 28:21 (ASV)

The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave to you. He now proceeds to diseases, which are, as it were, the lictors of God; and finally, His executioners, if people stubbornly continue in their ungodliness. Therefore, He does not merely declare that He will send the pestilence, but that He will cause it to cleave to them. Once it has laid hold of them, it will be impossible to remove.

It might also be translated, "The Lord shall cause the pestilence to seize you"; but with the same meaning: namely, that the pestilence should be fixed, or glued (agglutinatam), to them until it should consume them in the Holy Land itself. He adds phthisis, or consumption, a disease that emaciates the body and gradually exhausts its fluids.

It is unnecessary to speak in detail about the other diseases; let us only learn that, while the multitude of diseases is almost innumerable, they are all so many ministers (satellites) prepared to execute God’s vengeance. Indeed, it is true that diseases are contracted in various ways, especially through intemperance; still, this does not prevent God from smiting the transgressors of the Law with them, even if no natural cause is apparent. He adds war, which He designates by the name of "the sword," but He will soon speak more fully of this curse.

He then unfolds in more distinct detail what He had previously referred to regarding the curse on the produce of the land. And first, He names two blights of the grain, which destroy it just as it is ripening and snatch the bread, as it were, out of people’s mouths; for dryness²³⁸ is not used here for all lack of moisture in the soil, but for that emptying of the ears of grain which is caused by the east wind. Mildew occurs from the sudden heat of the sun if it strikes the grain when moistened with cold dew. Now, although these evils arise from natural causes, still God, the Author of nature, in His supreme power, so controls the atmosphere that its unwholesomeness is His undoubted scourge.²³⁹

²³⁸ “Ariditas.” — .” — Lat. “Blasting.” — . “Blasting.” — A..V.; “.; “i..e., (says Ainsworth,) of corn and fruit with a dry wind, ., (says Ainsworth,) of corn and fruit with a dry wind, 2 Kings 19:26, for the original word signifieth , for the original word signifieth dryness; and such was the east wind that blasted in those parts, ; and such was the east wind that blasted in those parts, Genesis 41:6. Therefore the Greek translateth it . Therefore the Greek translateth it corruption with wind.”.”

²³⁹ “Un certain signe de son ire;” a certain sign of His wrath. — Fr..