Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for Listening to the LORD

1“And it will be, if you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of the LORD your God. 3Blessed shall you be in the city,
and blessed shall you be in the field. 4Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb,
the fruit of your ground,
and the fruit of your livestock,
the offspring of your cattle
and the increase of your flock. 5Blessed shall be your basket
and your kneading bowl. 6Blessed shall you be when you come in,
and blessed shall you be when you go out.

The LORD Will Defeat Your Enemies

7“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be struck down before you. They will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all to which you put your hand, and he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 9The LORD will establish you as a holy people for himself, as he swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the LORD is called upon you, and they will fear you. 11The LORD will make you abound in good—in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground—upon the ground that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give you. 12The LORD will open for you his good treasury, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will be only above and not below, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, being careful to do them, 14and do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Refusing to Listen

15“But it will be, if you do not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments and statutes that I command you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. 16Cursed shall you be in the city,
and cursed shall you be in the field. 17Cursed shall be your basket
and your kneading bowl. 18Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb,
the fruit of your ground,
the offspring of your cattle
and the increase of your flock. 19Cursed shall you be when you come in,
and cursed shall you be when you go out.

Confusion, Disease, and Drought

20“The LORD will send upon you curse, confusion, and rebuke in all to which you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned me. 21The LORD will make plague cling to you until he has finished you from the ground that you are entering to possess. 22The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, burning heat, drought, blight, and mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish. 23The heavens over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. 24The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from the heavens it will come down upon you until you are destroyed.

Defeat before Enemies

25“The LORD will cause you to be struck down before your enemies. You will go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways, and you will become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26Your dead body will become food for every bird of the heavens and animal of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, tumors, scabs, and itching, from which you cannot be healed. 28The LORD will strike you with madness, blindness, and confusion of heart. 29You will grope at noon as the blind person gropes in darkness, and you will not make your ways prosper. You will only be oppressed and robbed all the days, with no one to save you.

The Fruit of Your Labor Will Go to Others

30“You will betroth a woman, but another man will lie with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not begin to enjoy its fruit. 31Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat from it. Your donkey will be robbed from before you and will not return to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to save you. 32Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will look and fail for them all day long, but there will be no power in your hand. 33A people whom you have not known will eat the fruit of your ground and all your labor, and you will only be oppressed and crushed all the days. 34You will become mad because of the sight that your eyes see. 35The LORD will strike you on the knees and legs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

You Will Go into Exile

36“The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation that you and your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. 37You will become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the peoples where the LORD leads you. 38Much seed you will carry out to the field, but little you will gather, for the locust will consume it. 39You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather grapes, for the worm will eat them. 40Olive trees you will have throughout all your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives will drop off. 41Sons and daughters you will father, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 42The cricket will possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43The resident alien who is in your midst will rise above you higher and higher, while you will descend lower and lower. 44He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

Because You Did Not Serve the LORD with Joy

45“All these curses will come upon you, pursue you, and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and statutes that he commanded you. 46They will be upon you as a sign and a wonder, and upon your offspring forever, 47because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart because of the abundance of everything. 48Therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke upon your neck until he has destroyed you.

A Nation from Far Away

49“The LORD will raise against you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, as an eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50a hard-faced nation that will not respect the old or show favor to the young. 51It will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed. It will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, no offspring of your cattle or increase of your flock, until it has caused you to perish. 52It will besiege you within all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trust fall throughout all your land. It will besiege you within all your gates throughout all your land that the LORD your God has given you.

The Horror of Siege

53“You will eat the fruit of your own womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress with which your enemy will distress you. 54The man among you who is tender and very delicate—his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife of his embrace, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves, 55so that he does not give to any of them from the flesh of his children that he is eating, because nothing remains to him in the siege and distress with which your enemy will distress you within all your gates. 56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because of delicateness and tenderness—her eye will be evil toward the husband of her embrace, toward her son and daughter, 57toward her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and toward the children whom she bears, for she will secretly eat them for lack of everything in the siege and distress with which your enemy will distress you within your gates.

If You Do Not Fear This Glorious Name

58“If you are not careful to do all the words of this instruction that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearsome name, the LORD your God, 59then the LORD will make extraordinary your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, great and lasting plagues, and severe and lasting sicknesses. 60He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you feared, and they will cling to you. 61Also every sickness and every plague that is not written in the book of this instruction, the LORD will bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62You will be left few in number, though you were as numerous as the stars of the heavens, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God. 63And it will be, just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will cause you to perish and destroy you, and you will be torn from the ground that you are entering to possess.

Scattered among All Peoples

64“The LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods whom you and your ancestors have not known, wood and stone. 65Among those nations you will find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. The LORD will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and despairing life. 66Your life will hang in suspense before you. You will fear night and day and will have no assurance of your life. 67In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the fear that your heart fears and because of the sight that your eyes see. 68The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by a way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female servants, but there will be no buyer.”