Deuteronomy 28

Blessings at Gerizim

1“1Now it shall be, if you diligently 2obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God 3will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and 4overtake you if you 5obey the Lord your God:

3“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be 6in the 7country.

4“Blessed shall be the 8offspring of your 9body and the 10produce of your ground and the 11offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

5“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6“Blessed shall you be 12when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7“The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be 13defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. 8The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in 14all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 915The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10So all the peoples of the earth will see that 1617you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. 1118The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the 19offspring of your 20body and in the 21offspring of your beast and in the 22produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and 23you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 1324The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to 25observe them carefully, 14and 26do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Consequences of Disobedience

15“27But it shall come about, if you do not 28obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16“29Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the 30country.

17“31Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

18“32Cursed shall be the 33offspring of your 34body and the 35produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

19“36Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20“37The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and 38rebuke, in all 39you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until 40you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. 2141The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. 2242The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with 43the sword and 44with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until 45you perish. 2346The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. 2447The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25“48The Lord shall cause you to be 49defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will 50be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 2651Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27“52The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with 53tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; 29and you will 5455grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you. 3056You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; 57you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not 58use its fruit. 31Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. 3259Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing 60you can do. 3361A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. 34You shall be driven mad by the sight of 62what you see. 3563The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 3664The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, 65wood and stone. 3766You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you.

38“67You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for 68the locust will consume it. 3969You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them. 4070You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. 4171You shall 72have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 4273The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. 4374The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower. 4475He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; 76he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

45“So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you 77until you are destroyed, because you would not 78obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46They shall become 79a sign and a wonder on you and your 80descendants forever.

47“81Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; 48therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, 82in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He 83will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

49“84The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, 85as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50a nation of fierce countenance who will 86have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. 51Moreover, it shall eat the 87offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. 5288It shall besiege you in all your 89towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your 90towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. 5391Then you shall eat the 92offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will 93oppress you. 54The man who is 94refined and very delicate among you 95shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife 96he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, 55so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will 97oppress you in all your 98towns. 5699The 100refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and 101refinement, 102shall be hostile toward the husband 103she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, 57and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her 104legs and toward her children whom she bears; for 105she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will 106oppress you in your 107towns.

58“If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to 108109fear this honored and awesome 110name, 111the Lord your God, 59then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and 112your descendants, even 113severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60114He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 61Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you 115until you are destroyed. 62Then you shall be left few in number, 116whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not 117obey the Lord your God. 63It shall come about that as the Lord 118delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will 119delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be 120torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 64Moreover, the Lord will 121scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall 122serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. 65123Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there 124the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66So your life shall 125hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 67126In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”