Deuteronomy 28:23-48

23There will be no clouds in the sky above to give any rain. The ground under your feet will be as hard as iron.

24There will be clouds of dust instead of rain. Dirt will come down from the sky until it has destroyed you.

25The Lord will let your enemies knock you down. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run away from them in seven directions. When the people of other nations see what has happened to you, they will see it is a terrible thing.

26Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and the wild animals. No one will be there to chase them away.

27The Lord will cause you to have boils on your bodies. That is what he did to the Egyptians. He will also cause you to have tumours and other bad diseases on your skin. You will not be able to get well again.

28The Lord will make you crazy and blind. He will confuse your thoughts.

29Even at midday, you will not see your way. You will be in the dark, like a blind person. You will not be able to go anywhere, whatever you do. Every day, people will be cruel to you. People will rob you. No one will be there to save you.

30A woman will promise to marry you. But another man will take her and have sex with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a garden, but you will never eat the fruit that grows in it.

31Someone will kill your bull while you watch. But you will not eat any of the meat. As you watch, someone will take your donkey from you. He will never give it back to you. Your enemies will take your sheep for themselves. There will be no one there to help you.

32Foreign people will take your children away to be their slaves. Every day, you will look for them to come back to you. But you will have no power to do anything.

33Strangers will eat the food that you have worked hard to grow in your fields. People will be cruel to you for the rest of your lives.

34When you see what is happening to you, you will become crazy.

35The Lord will cause you to have boils on your knees and on your legs. They will give you much pain and they will never get better. They will soon cover your whole body, from your toes to the top of your head.

36When you choose a king for yourselves, the Lord will send you and him away to a foreign country. It will be a place that neither you nor your ancestors have ever heard about. There you will serve gods that people have made from stone and wood.

37The Lord will send you away to live among foreign people. When they see what has happened to you, they will all see that it is terrible. They will tell stories about you and they will laugh at you.

38You will plant many seeds in your fields, but you will not have much food at harvest time. Instead, locusts will eat your crops.

39You will plant vineyards to grow grapes. You will take care of the plants. But you will not drink any wine or bring in any grapes. Instead, worms will eat them.

40Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will never use any oil from them. The olives will drop off the trees before they are ready to pick.

41You will give birth to sons and daughters, but you will lose them. Enemies will take them away as prisoners.

42Crowds of locusts will eat all your trees and the food from your fields.

43Foreign people who live among you will become stronger and stronger. They will have more and more power over you, as you become weaker.

44They will lend money to you, but you will not lend money to them. They will become your leaders. You will have to follow behind them.

45All these curses will happen to you. They will be like an enemy that chases after you, catches you, and destroys you. That will happen to you, if you refuse to obey the Lord your God. If you do not obey his commands and his rules that he has given to you, these troubles will happen to you.

46They will show that God is very angry with you. You and your descendants will know that for ever.

47The Lord has given you many good things. But you have not agreed to serve the Lord your God with joy.

48So you will serve your enemies that the Lord will send to attack you. You will be hungry and thirsty. You will be so poor that you do not even have clothes to wear. Your enemies will make you work so hard that they will destroy you.