Deuteronomy 32:24
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
The verse is part of the song that Christ, Israel's invisible Leader, commanded Moses to form from events in Israel's history so the people could teach it to their children and keep God's dealings in remembrance. That song both recounts God's past dealings with His people and looks ahead prophetically to future events, including the final victory of the faithful when Christ returns in power and glory. Within it the verse belongs to the account of Israel's rebellion and God's response to it, showing that forgetting God and disregarding His law provoke His anger. It describes the severe judgments that would come on Israel for turning from God to rebellion and idolatry.
It foretells specific calamities for persistent rebellion in forsaking God: wasting hunger, scorching heat, and bitter destruction. Those same calamities include attack by wild beasts and venom from serpents of the dust, with hunger, burning heat, bitter destruction, beasts and poisonous snakes together forming the consequences threatened upon a rebellious people. In the surrounding warning these belong to the charge that Israel lacks counsel and understanding and will be overcome by its enemies because the Lord has given them up.
These calamities are swift judgment promised to those who persist in forsaking God and in rebellion. That prophecy of swift judgment reveals God's abhorrence of sin. The warning also spoke to Judah's future, showing the danger of continued apostasy, and when Josiah grasped its meaning he trembled for the nation's future as he considered its consequences.