(Devarim 32:23) "I will join evils upon them": I will gather together and bring upon them all of the evils at once.

Variantly: It is not written "asuf ('join') upon them evils," but "asfah ('end') upon them evils" — all of the punishments will end, but they (Israel) will not end. And thus is it written (Ibid.) "My arrows achaleh ('I will end') in them." It is not written "My arrows 'yichlu' ('will end') them, but "My arrows I will end in them" — My arrows will end, but they (Israel) will not end.

Variantly: "My arrows achaleh in them" — these are arrows of famine, as it is written (Ezekiel 5:16) "when I send the evil arrows of famine against them."

(Devarim, Ibid. 24) "mezei with hunger and embattled by reshef": They will be hairy with hunger and strewn about the streets, as it is written (Jeremiah 14:16) "And the people to whom they prophesy will be strewn about in the streets of Jerusalem."

"and cut down by Meriri" (a demon) — whence it is derived that whoever is invested by a demon becomes rebellious ("mored").

"And the tooth of beasts I will send against them": His beast will bite and raise (in the victim) a fatal ulcer. Indeed, we have been witnesses to sheep biting and killing. Variantly: Read it not "And the tooth of beasts (behemoth) I will send against them," but "and 'a tooth' — 'death' — will I send in them" (bam).

"with chamath": One of them will become heated (mithchamem), bite himself, raise an ulcer, and die. Variantly: They heated themselves and committed all the sins of illicit relations.

"the crawlers in the dust": They crawled in the dust. Variantly: The crawlers in the dust are the serpents, whose "realm" is the dust.

(Ibid. 25) "On the outside (of the city) the sword (of legions) shall devour (them) "— whence they derived: "In time of war, 'gather in' your legs" (i.e., stay at home); "in time of famine, 'spread out' your legs (and leave)." And thus is it written (Jeremiah 19:18) "If I go out to the field, there are the slain of the sword! And if I enter the city, there are the sick with famine!" And (Ezekiel 7:15) "Whoever is in the field will die by the sword, and whoever is in the city, famine and plague will consume him."

"and in the chambers, fright": If he saw the sword entering the marketplace, if he could flee from it, then the chambers of his heart would pound with fright, which would kill him.

Variantly: "On the outside the sword shall devour": because of what they did in the thoroughfares (i.e., idolatry), viz. (Jeremiah 11:13) "For (as) the number of your cities was (the number of) your gods, O Judah, and (as) the number of streets in Jerusalem have you made altars to the shame — altars to sacrifice to the ba'al." "and in the chambers, fright": what they do in their secret chambers, viz. (Ezekiel 8:12) "what the elders of the house of Israel do in the darkness … For they say: 'The L-rd does not see us; the L-rd has left the land."

"both young man and virgin": and not these alone, but even "suckling and the man of grey hairs." And thus is it written (Jeremiah 6:11) "Also man and woman are ensnared; the elder with the full of years (and near death)."

Variantly: "both young man (bachur)": You have caused Me to send My hand against My chosen ones ("bechirai"), as in (Bamidbar 11:28) "And Joshua the son of Nun answered, the servant of Moses, of his chosen ones ('mibachurav')."

"both virgin": They were clean of sin, as a virgin, who had never tasted the taste of sin. "suckling": They sucked words of Torah as a babe sucks milk from its mother's breasts. "with the man of grey hairs": Read it not "ish seva" ("the man of grey hairs"), but "ish yeshivah," being fit to sit in "yeshivah" (a consortium of Torah scholars). And thus is it written (of the exiles, II Kings 24:16) "and the charash and the masger, one thousand, all heroes, waging war." Now what feats of strength are performed by men going into exile? What war is waged by men bound in chains? Rather, (the meaning is that they were) "heroic" in the war of Torah. As it is written (Psalms 103:20) "Bless the L-rd, O His angels, heroic in power, doing His word to hear the voice of His word." (II Kings, Ibid.) "waging war": "giving and taking" in the "war" of Torah, viz. (Bamidbar 21:14) "Therefore, it is said in the Book of the wars of the L-rd, etc." (II Kings, Ibid.) "the charash" (lit., "mute"): One (of these scholars) speaks and the rest remain silent. "and 'the masger'" (lit., the "closer": All sit before him and learn from him. After he "closes," no one "opens," and after he "opens," no one "closes," in fulfilment of (Isaiah 22:22) "And he (David) will open, and none will close; and he will close, and none will open."