28:1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
28:2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
28:4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock–the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
28:5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
28:7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
28:8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
28:9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
28:10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.
28:11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity–in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground–in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
28:12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
28:13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
28:14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
28:15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
28:17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
28:18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
28:20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.
28:21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.
28:23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
28:24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.
28:26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
28:27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.
28:28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
28:29 At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.
28:30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.
28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.
28:33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.
28:34 The sights you see will drive you mad.
28:35 The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
28:36 The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.
28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
28:38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.
28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.
28:41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.
28:42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
28:43 The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.
28:44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
28:45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.
28:46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.
28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
28:48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
28:49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,
28:50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.
28:51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.
28:52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.
28:53 Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.
28:54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,
28:55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.
28:56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you–so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot–will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter
28:57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
28:58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name–the LORD your God–
28:59 the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.
28:60 He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
28:61 The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
28:62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
28:63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods–gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
28:65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
28:66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
28:67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”–because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
28:68 The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
28:1 And if you listen diligently to the voice of Jehovah your God and are certain to do all His commandments, which I am commanding you today, Jehovah your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth;
28:2 And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.
28:3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
28:4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your animals, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock.
28:5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
28:6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
28:7 Jehovah will cause your enemies, who rise up against you, to be struck down before you; on one road they will come out against you, but on seven roads they will flee before you.
28:8 Jehovah will command the blessing upon you in your storehouses and in all your undertakings; and He will bless you in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.
28:9 Jehovah will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of Jehovah your God and walk in His ways.
28:10 And all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by Jehovah’s name, and they will be afraid of you.
28:11 And Jehovah will give you an excess of prosperity in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your animals and in the fruit of your ground, upon the ground which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give you.
28:12 Jehovah will open up to you His good treasury, the heavens, to give rain for your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. And you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.
28:13 And Jehovah will make you the head and not the tail, and you will tend only upward, and you will not tend downward, if you will listen to the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you today to keep and to do.
28:14 And you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
28:15 But if you do not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God and are not certain to do all His commandments and His statutes, which I am commanding you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.
28:16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
28:17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
28:18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock.
28:19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
28:20 Jehovah will send to you cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke in all your undertakings which you do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your practices through which you have abandoned Me.
28:21 Jehovah will make a plague cling to you until He has consumed you from off the land which you are entering to possess.
28:22 Jehovah will strike you with consuming disease and fever and inflammation, and with burning heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; and these will pursue you until you perish.
28:23 And your sky, which is above your head, will be bronze, and the land, which is under you, iron.
28:24 Jehovah will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it will come down upon you until you are destroyed.
28:25 Jehovah will cause you to be struck down before your enemies; on one road you will go out against them, but on seven roads you will flee before them. And you will be a source of shuddering to all the kingdoms of the earth.
28:26 And your corpse will become food for all the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.
28:27 Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt, tumors, scabs, and itching, of which you cannot be healed.
28:28 Jehovah will strike you with madness, blindness, and bewilderment of heart;
28:29 And you will be groping at noonday just as the blind man gropes in darkness; and you will not succeed in your ventures, but will only be oppressed and plundered always; and no one will save you.
28:30 You will get engaged to a woman, but another man will ravish her; you will build a house, but you will not dwell in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not partake of it.
28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered in your sight, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be torn away from before you, but it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, but no one will rescue them for you.
28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while your eyes look on and fail from longing after them all the day, but you will be powerless.
28:33 A people whom you have not known will eat the fruit of your ground and all your hard-earned produce, and you will be only oppressed and crushed always.
28:34 And you will go mad because of the sight before your eyes which you will see.
28:35 Jehovah will strike you on the knees and legs with terrible boils, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
28:36 Jehovah will bring you and your king, whom you will have set over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have not known; and there you will serve other gods, mere wood and stone.
28:37 And you will become a source of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to whom Jehovah will drive you.
28:38 You will put out much seed in the field, but you will harvest little; for the locust will consume it.
28:39 You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will not drink the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm will devour them.
28:40 You will have olive trees in all your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives will drop off.
28:41 You will beget sons and daughters, but they will not remain with you; for they will go into captivity.
28:42 The locust will take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
28:43 The sojourner who is in your midst will rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower.
28:44 He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you will be the tail.
28:45 And all these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes, which He commanded you;
28:46 And they will be with you and with your seed as a sign and wonder forever.
28:47 Because you did not serve Jehovah your God with rejoicing and gladness of heart on account of the abundance of all things,
28:48 You will serve your enemies, whom Jehovah will send out against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
28:49 Jehovah will bring against you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, like the eagle that swoops down, a nation whose tongue you will not understand,
28:50 A nation of fierce countenance, who will not regard an old man’s person nor show favor to the young man.
28:51 And they will eat the fruit of your animals and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed; they will not leave for you grain, new wine, or fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they cause you to perish.
28:52 And they will besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they will besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which Jehovah your God has given you.
28:53 And you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom Jehovah your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.
28:54 The man who is delicately bred and luxurious among you, he will begrudge his brother, the wife of his bosom, and the remnant of his children whom he has left,
28:55 Not giving to one of them any of the flesh of his children whom he will eat; because nothing is left with him in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you in all your towns.
28:56 The delicately bred and luxurious woman among you, who does not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because of her luxuriousness and delicacy, she will begrudge the husband of her bosom and her son and daughter
28:57 The child who comes forth from her and her children whom she will bear; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and distress with which your enemy will distress you in your towns.
28:58 If you are not certain to do all the words of this law written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name ? Jehovah your God ?
28:59 Jehovah will make your plagues and the plagues of your seed extraordinary, great and persistent plagues, and malignant and persistent sicknesses.
28:60 And He will put upon you again all the illnesses of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cling to you.
28:61 Also, every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, Jehovah will raise up upon you until you are destroyed.
28:62 And you will be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude; for you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.
28:63 And as Jehovah exulted over you to do you good and to multiply you, so will Jehovah exult over you to make you perish and to destroy you; and you will be torn off the land which you are entering to possess.
28:64 And Jehovah will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will serve other gods whom you and your fathers have not known, mere wood and stone.
28:65 And among those nations you will have no rest, nor will there be a resting place for the sole of your foot; but Jehovah will give you there a quivering heart and eyes failing with longing and a languishing soul.
28:66 And your life will be hung in suspense before you, and you will dread night and day; and you will have no assurance of your life.
28:67 In the morning you will say, Oh that it were evening! and in the evening you will say, Oh that it were morning! because of your heart’s dread with which you will dread and because of the sight before your eyes which you will see.
28:68 And Jehovah will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way concerning which I said to you, You shall never again see it. And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies, as male slaves and as female slaves, but no one will buy you.