The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

Jehovah will smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head.

May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

Jehovah will smite thee in the knees and in the legs with evil ulcers, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

'Jehovah doth smite thee with an evil ulcer, on the knees, and on the legs (of which thou art not able to be healed), from the sole of thy foot even unto thy crown.

The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well.

May the Lord strike you with a very grievous ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and may you be unable to attain health, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

Percutiet te Jehova ulcere pessimo in genibus et in coxis, ita ut non possis curari, a planta pedis tui usque ad verticem tuum.

The Lord shall smite thee in the knees. Since death is common to the whole human race, they must needs also be all subject to disease; nor is it a matter of surprise that the whole posterity of Adam, which is infected with the taint of sin, should so be liable to many afflictions, which are the wages of sin. But, since the offenses of all are not alike, God also maintains a just proportion in the execution of His various punishments; thus, in this passage He does not speak only of common maladies, but of those whereby He openly shews His vengeance against the transgressors of the Law; of which sort are incurable diseases.

With a sore botch - שחין shechin, an inflammatory swelling, a burning boil. See Deuteronomy 28:27.

The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch, that cannot be healed,.... Which in those parts as it is very painful, so is not easily cured; and this which is threatened was incurable by the art of man, as others in Deuteronomy 28:27; and which should not stop there in the lower parts of the body, but proceed and spread:
from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head; and so be filled with them, as Job was with his boils and ulcers.

the Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs--This is an exact description of elephantiasis, a horrible disease, something like leprosy, which attacks particularly the lower extremities.

The Lord would smite the people with grievous abscesses in the knees and thighs, that should be incurable, even from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. רע שׁחין ר is the so-called joint-leprosy, a form of the lepra tuberosa (vid., Pruner, p. 167). From the clause, however, "from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head," it is evident that the threat is not to be restricted to this species of leprosy, since "the upper parts of the body often remain in a perfectly normal state in cases of leprosy in the joints; and after the diseased parts have fallen off, the patients recover their previous health to a certain degree" (Pruner). Moses mentions this as being a disease of such a nature, that it would render it utterly impossible for those who were afflicted with it either to stand or walk, and then heightens the threat by adding the words, "from the sole of the foot to the top of the head." Leprosy excluded from fellowship with the Lord, and deprived the nation of the character of a nation of God.