John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 28:39

"Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather [the grapes]; for the worm shall eat them." — Deuteronomy 28:39 (ASV)

Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress [them]
Plant them and prune them, in expectation of much fruit from them:

but shall neither drink [of] the wine nor gather [the grapes] ;
so far from drinking of the wine of them, that they should not be able to gather any grapes from them:

for the worms shall eat them ;
a sort of worms pernicious to vines, which the Greeks call "ipes", or "ikes" ^F15 ; and the Latins "convolvuli" and "volvoces", as Pliny ^F16 .

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: See Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 27. col. 622, 623.
• F16: Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 28.