Old Testament · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 28

The Blessings of Obedience

(Leviticus 25:18–22)

1And it shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep to do all His commandments^a which I command^b you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings shall come upon you, and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

3Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground^c, and the fruit of your beasts, the offspring of your cattle, and the young of your flock.
5Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough.
6Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7The LORD will give your enemies who rise up against you struck before you; in one way they shall come out against you, and in seven ways they shall flee before you.

8The LORD will command with you the blessing in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. 9The LORD will establish you for Himself for a holy people, as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon you, and they shall be afraid of you.

11And the LORD will make you abound for good, in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your beasts, and in the fruit of your ground, upon the ground which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to you.

12The LORD will open for you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its time, and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

13And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be only above, and you shall not be beneath; if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, to keep and to do. 14And you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them^d.

The Curses of Disobedience

(Leviticus 20:1–9; Leviticus 26:14–39)

15And it shall come to pass, if you do not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep to do all His commandments and His statutes^e which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

16Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough.
18Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, the offspring of your cattle, and the young of your flock.
19Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20The LORD will send against you the curse^f, the confusion, and the rebuke^g, in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken Me.

21The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you, until He has consumed you from off the ground where you are going to possess it. 22The LORD will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish. 23And your heavens that are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth that is under you, iron.

24The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust^h; from the heavens it shall come down upon you, until you are destroyed.

25The LORD will give you struck before your enemies; in one way you shall go out against them, and in seven ways you shall flee before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26And your carcass shall be food for every bird of the heavens and for the beast of the earth, and there shall be none to frighten them away.

27The LORD will strike you with the boil of Egypt, and with the tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch, of which you cannot be healed.

28The LORD will strike you with madnessⁱ, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. 29And you shall be groping at noonday, as the blind man gropes in the darkness, and you shall not make your ways prosperous; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed all the days, and there shall be none to save^j.

30You shall betroth a woman^k, and another man^l shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use it. 31Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat from it; your donkey shall be seized from before you, and shall not return to you; your flock shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save.

32Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day, but there shall be no power in your hand. 33The fruit of your ground and all your labor a people whom you do not know shall eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed all the days. 34And you shall be mad from the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

35The LORD will strike you with a sore boil on the knees and on the legs, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36The LORD will lead you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. 37And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the LORD shall lead you.

38Much seed you shall carry out to the field, but little you shall gather in, for the locust shall consume it. 39Vineyards you shall plant and work, but wine you shall not drink, nor gather, for the worm shall eat it. 40Olive-trees you shall have throughout all your borders, but with oil you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives shall drop off. 41Sons and daughters you shall beget, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess.

43The stranger who is in your midst shall mount up above you higher and higher, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46And they shall be on you for a sign^m and for a wonderⁿ, and on your seed forever.

47Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. 48And you shall serve your enemy whom the LORD shall send against you, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you.

49The LORD will lift up against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand; 50a nation fierce of face, which shall not regard the face of the old nor show favor to the young. 51And it shall eat the fruit of your beasts and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; which shall not leave for you grain, new wine, or fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until it has caused you to perish. 52And it shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trust, throughout all your land; and it shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.

53And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh^o of your sons and your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you.

54The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his children whom he leaves remaining; 55so as not to give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he eats, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates.

56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil against the man of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter, 57and against her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet, and against her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates.

58If you will not keep to do all the words of this Torah that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and awesome Name, the LORD your God, 59then the LORD will make extraordinary your plagues, and the plagues of your seed—great and lasting plagues, and evil and lasting sicknesses. 60And He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid; and they shall cleave to you.

61Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Torah, the LORD will bring them up upon you, until you are destroyed. 62And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the heavens for multitude; because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

63And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from off the ground where you are going to possess it.

64And the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from the end of the earth even to the end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, wood and stone. 65And among those nations you shall have no ease, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and languishing of soul^p.

66And your life^q shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall not be assured of your life. 67In the morning you shall say, "Would that it were evening!" and in the evening you shall say, "Would that it were morning!" for the dread of your heart which you shall dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

68And the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, "You shall not see it again anymore"; and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for male servants and for female servants, and there shall be no buyer.

The Covenant in Moab

69These are the words of the covenant^r which the LORD commanded Moses to cut with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He cut with them in Horeb.