The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

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- Chapter 28 -

(Leviticus 25:18–22)

“So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth.

And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts.(a)

Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field.

Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep.(b)

Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses.

Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

The Lord will grant that your enemies, who rise up against you, will fall down in your sight. They will come against you by one way, and they will flee from your face by seven ways.

The Lord will send forth a blessing upon your cellars, and upon all the works of your hands. And he will bless you in the land that you shall receive.

The Lord will raise you up as a holy people for himself, just as he swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways.

And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord has been invoked over you, and they shall fear you.

The Lord will cause you to be abundant in every good thing: in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, which the Lord swore to your fathers that he would give to you.

The Lord will open his excellent treasury, the heavens, so that it may distribute rain in due time. And he will bless all the works of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you yourself will borrow nothing from anyone.

And the Lord will appoint you as the head, and not as the tail. And you shall be always above, and not beneath. But only if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I entrust to you this day, and will keep and do them,

and will not turn aside from them, neither to the right, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

The Curses of Disobedience

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

But if you are not willing to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I instruct to you this day, all these curses shall come to you, and take hold of you.(c)

Cursed shall you be in the city, cursed in the field.

Cursed shall be your barn, and cursed your storehouses.

Cursed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.

Cursed shall you be entering, and cursed departing.

The Lord will send famine and hunger upon you, and a rebuke upon all the works that you do, until he quickly crushes and perishes you, because of your very wicked innovations, by which you have forsaken me.

May the Lord join a pestilence to you, until he consumes you from the land, which you shall enter so as to possess.

May the Lord strike you with destitution, with fever and cold, with burning and heat, and with polluted air and rot, and may he pursue you until you perish.

May the heavens which are above you be of brass, and may the ground upon which you tread be of iron.

May the Lord give you dust instead of rain upon your land, and may ashes descend from heaven over you, until you have been wiped away.

May the Lord hand you over to fall before your enemies. May you go forth against them by one way, and flee by seven ways, and may you be scattered across all the kingdoms of the earth.

And may your carcass be food for all the flying things of the air and the wild beasts of the land, and may there be no one to drive them away.

May the Lord strike you with the ulcer of Egypt, and may he strike the part of your body, through which the dung goes out, with disease as well as itch, so much so that you are unable to be cured.

May the Lord strike you with frenzy and blindness and a madness of the mind.

And may you grope at midday, just as a blind man is accustomed to grope in darkness, and may your paths not be straight. And at all times may you suffer slander and be oppressed with violence, and may you have no one who may free you.

May you take a wife, though another sleeps with her. May you build a house, but not live within it. May you plant a vineyard, and not gather its vintage.

May your ox be immolated before you, though you do not eat from it. May your donkey be seized in your sight, and not restored to you. May your sheep be given to your enemies, and may there be no one who may help you.

May your sons and your daughters be handed over to another people, as your eyes watch and languish at the sight of them throughout the day, and may there be no strength in your hand.

May a people you do not know eat the fruits of your land and of all your labors. And may you continually suffer from slander and oppression every day.

And may you be stupefied at the terror of the things your eyes will see.

May the Lord strike you with a very grievous ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and may you be unable to attain health, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

May the Lord lead you and your king, whom you will have appointed over yourself, into a nation which you and your fathers have not known. And there you will serve foreign gods, of wood and of stone.

And you will become nothing but a proverb and a fable to all the peoples to whom the Lord will lead you.

You will sow much seed upon the ground, but you will harvest little. For the locusts will devour everything.

You will dig and plant a vineyard, but you will not drink the wine, nor gather anything at all from it. For it will be devastated by worms.

You will have olive trees in all your borders, but you will not be anointed with the oil. For the olives will fall off and perish.

You will conceive sons and daughters, and you will not enjoy them. For they will be led into captivity.

Rot will consume all the trees, as well as the fruits of your land.

The new arrival who lives with you in the land will ascend over you, and be higher. But you will descend, and be lower.

He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him. He will be as the head, and you will be as the tail.

And all these curses shall come to you, and shall pursue you, and shall take hold of you, until you pass away, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and you would not serve his commandments and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.

And there will be the signs and portents with you, and with your offspring, forever.

Because you did not serve the Lord your God, with gladness and a joyful heart, over the abundance of all things.

You will serve your enemy, whom the Lord will send to you, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, and in destitution of all things. And he will place an iron yoke upon your neck, until he has crushed you.

The Lord will lead over you a nation from far away, even from the furthest parts of the earth, like an eagle flying with great force, whose language you are not able to understand:

a very insolent nation, which will show no deference to elders, nor take pity on little ones.

And he will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you have passed away, without leaving behind you wheat, or wine, or oil, or herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep: until he utterly destroys you.

And he will crush you in all your cities. And your strong and lofty walls, in which you trusted, will be destroyed throughout all your land. You will be besieged within your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

And you will eat the fruit of your womb, and the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the Lord your God will give to you, due to the anguish and devastation with which your enemy will oppress you.

The man who is pampered and very self-indulgent among you will vie with his own brother, and with the wife who lies at his bosom,

lest he give to them from the flesh of his sons, which he will eat. For he has nothing else due to the siege and the destitution, with which your enemies will devastate you within all your gates.

The tender and pampered woman, who would not walk upon the soil, nor step firmly with her foot due to her very great softness and tenderness, will vie with her husband, who lies at her bosom, over the flesh of son and of daughter,

and over the filth of the afterbirth, which goes forth from between her thighs, and over the children who are born in the same hour. For they will eat them secretly, due to the scarcity of all things during the siege and the devastation, with which your enemy will oppress you within your gates.

If you will not keep and do all the words of this law, which have been written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name, that is, the Lord your God,

then the Lord will increase your plagues, and the plagues of your offspring, plagues great and long-lasting, infirmities very grievous and continuous.

And he will turn back upon you all the afflictions of Egypt, which you fear, and these will cling to you.

In addition, the Lord will lead over you all the diseases and plagues that are not written in the volume of this law, until he crushes you.

And you will remain few in number, though you were before like the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

And just as before, when the Lord rejoiced over you, doing good for you and multiplying you, so shall he rejoice, scattering and overturning you, so as to take you away from the land, which you shall enter in order to possess.

The Lord will disperse you among all the peoples, from the heights of the earth to its furthest limits. And there you will serve foreign gods of wood and of stone, which you and your fathers did not know.

Similarly, you will not have tranquility, even within those nations, nor will there be any rest for the steps of your feet. For the Lord will give to you in that place a fearful heart, and failing eyes, and a life consumed with grieving.

And your life will be as if it were hanging before you. You will be afraid night and day, and you will not have confidence in your own life.

In the morning you will say, ‘Who will grant evening to me?’ and at evening, ‘Who will grant morning to me?’ because of the dread of your heart, with which you will be terrified, and because of those things that you will see with your eyes.

The Lord will lead you back into Egypt with a fleet of ships, along the way, about which he said to you that you would not see it again. In that place, you will be put up for sale as men and women servants to your enemies, but there will be no one willing to buy you.”

Footnotes

(a)28:2 All these blessings, etc:In the Old Testament, God promised temporal blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings.(Challoner)

(b)28:4 The word ‘ventris’ refers more generally to the generative capability of the human person; by comparison, ‘utero’ has more of the meaning of womb.(Conte)

(c)28:15 All these curses, etc:Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world.(Challoner)

(Leviticus 25:18–22)

It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to the LORD your God’s voice.

You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.

You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.

Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed.

You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out.

The LORD will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways.

The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

The LORD will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways.

All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the LORD’s name, and they will be afraid of you.

The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

The LORD will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.

The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today, to observe and to do,

and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Curses of Disobedience

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

But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed.

You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out.

The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke 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.

The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it.

The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish.

Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron.

The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed.

The LORD will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away.

The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.

The LORD will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.

You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.

You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.

Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.

A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,

so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad.

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

The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it.

You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them.

You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.

You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.

Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground.

The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.

He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.

They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever.

Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;

therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand,

a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.

They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.

You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.

The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining,

so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.

The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,

toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates.

If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God,

then the LORD will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration.

He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you.

Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring them on you until you are destroyed.

You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice.

It will happen 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. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess.

The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.

Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.

Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life.

In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.

The LORD will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.