Vetus Testamentum 58 (2008) 544-549 www.brill.nl/vt Vetus Testamentum © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/156853308X325263 Greek Deuteronomy’s “Fever and Chills” and heir Magical Afterlife 1 David Lincicum Oxford Abstract he Greek text of Deut. xxviii 22 preserves the earliest reference in a Jewish context to “fever and chills”, a pair that repeatedly surfaces in later incantations. his provided both a scriptural justi- fication for some Greek curses and contributed to the “magical Wirkungsgeschichte” of Deuter- onomy itself. Keywords Jewish incantations, “fever and chills”, Deut. xxviii 22, magic Recently, attention has been drawn to the function of lists in magical texts (where they are ubiquitous) as performing an objectification of the recipient as well as achieving an aesthetic display for the purpose of ritual power. 2 1) Abbreviations and short titles used here: PGM = Karl Preisendanz (ed.), Papyri Graecae Magi- cae. Die griechischen Zauberpapyri (2 vols.; repr. Stuttgart, 1973-74), translated and expanded in Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), he Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells (Chicago and London, 1986). Naveh and Shaked AMB = Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls. Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem; Leiden, 1985). Naveh and Shaked MSF = Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked, Magic Spells and Formulae. Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem, 1993). Schiffman and Swartz = Lawrence H. Schiff- man and Michael D. Swartz, Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Texts from the Cairo Genizah. Selected Texts from Taylor-Schechter Box K1 (STS 1; Sheffield, 1992). Schäfer and Shaked = Peter Schäfer and Shaul Shaked, Magische Texte aus der Kairoer Geniza I-III (TSAJ 42, 64, 72; Tübin- gen, 1994-1999). 2) On ‘listing’ in magical texts, see R. Gordon, “ ‘What’s in a list?’ Listing in Greek and Graeco- Roman malign magical texts”, in: D. R. Jordon, H. Montgomery and E. homassen (eds.), he World of Ancient Magic: Papers from the First International Samson Eitrem Seminar at the Norwegian Institute at Athens 4-8 May 1997 (Bergen, 1999), pp. 239-277; Michael D. Swartz, “he Aesthetics of Blessing and Cursing: Literary and Iconographic Dimensions of Hebrew and Aramaic Blessing and Curse Texts”, JANER 5 (2005), pp. 187-211, esp. pp. 189-195.