The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
The rain of thy land powder and dust, х 'aabaaq (H80)] - light, impalpable (Isaiah 5:21; Ezekiel 26:10); the opposite of х `aapaar (H6083)] thick, heavy dust, and of х shachaq (H7834)] a nation of dust (Isaiah 40:15) - an allusion, probably, to the dreadful effects of tornadoes in the East, which, raising the sand in immense twisted pillars, and driving them along with the fury of a tempest, darken the heavens and envelop caravans and armies in a stiffing deluge of dust.
To this species of rain Moses was no stranger: he had seen it and felt its effects in the sandy deserts of Arabia; and he places it among the curses that were in subsequant ages to punish the apostasy of the Israelites. These shifting sands are most destructive to cultivated lands; and in consequence of their encroachment many once fertile regions of the East are now barren deserts.