28.
1 "Now it
shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to
observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD
your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 "And all
these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the
voice of the LORD your God:
3 "Blessed
shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 "Blessed
shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of
your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 "Blessed
shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 "Blessed
shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 "The
LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your
face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 "The
LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which
you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is
giving you.
9 "The
LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to
you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
10 "Then all
peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and
they shall be afraid of you.
11 "And
the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the
increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of
which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12 "The
LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your
land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to
many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 "And
the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and
not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I
command you today, and are careful to observe them.
14 "So you
shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the
right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 "But it
shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to
observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you
today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 "Cursed
shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 "Cursed
shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 "Cursed
shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of
your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19 "Cursed
shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 "The
LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your
hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of
the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.
21 "The
LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land
which you are going to possess.
22 "The
LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with
severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they
shall pursue you until you perish.
23 "And
your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is
under you shall be iron.
24 "The
LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it
shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 "The
LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one
way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become
troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 "Your
carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the
earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
27 "The
LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and
with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28 "The
LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.
29 "And
you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not
prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually,
and no one shall save you.
30 "You
shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a
house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not
gather its grapes.
31 "Your
ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your
donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored
to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to
rescue them.
32 "Your
sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall
look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no
strength in your hand.
33 "A
nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce
of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually.
34 "So you
shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
35 "The
LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which
cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 "The
LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which
neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other
gods--wood and stone.
37 "And
you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations
where the LORD will drive you.
38 "You
shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust
shall consume it.
39 "You
shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine
nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40 "You
shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint
yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.
41 "You
shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go
into captivity.
42
"Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
43 "The
alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall
come down lower and lower.
44 "He
shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you
shall be the tail.
45
"Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake
you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD
your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46 "And
they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants
forever.
47
"Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of
heart, for the abundance of everything,
48
"therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against
you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will
put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49 "The
LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as
swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,
50 "a
nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor
to the young.
51 "And
they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land,
until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or
the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have
destroyed you.
52 "They
shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in
which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you
at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given
you.
53 "You
shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters
whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in
which your enemy shall distress you.
54 "The
sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother,
toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he
leaves behind,
55 "so that
he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat,
because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your
enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
56 "The
tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of
her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse
to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter,
57 "her
placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears;
for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and
desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
58 "If you
do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this
book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
59 "then
the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues--great
and prolonged plagues--and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60
"Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which
you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61 "Also
every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law,
will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.
62 "You
shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in
multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
63 "And it
shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply
you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing;
and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
64 "Then
the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the
other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers
have known--wood and stone.
65 "And
among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot
have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart,
failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
66 "Your
life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no
assurance of life.
67 "In the
morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall
say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your
heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
68 "And
the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to
you, 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to
your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."