< Deuteronomy 28 >

1 Now if you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep with care all these orders which I have given you today, then the Lord your God will put you high over all the nations of the earth:
And it shall come to pass, if you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all these commands, which I charge you this day, that the Lord your God shall set you on high above all the nations of the earth;
2 And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if your ears are open to the voice of the Lord your God.
and all these blessings shall come upon you, and shall find you. If you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord your God,
3 A blessing will be on you in the town, and a blessing in the field.
blessed [shall] you [be] in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 A blessing will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herd, and the young of your flock.
Blessed shall be the offspring of your body, and the fruits of your land, and the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.
5 A blessing will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.
Blessed shall be your barns, and your stores.
6 A blessing will be on your coming in and on your going out.
Blessed shall you be in your coming in, and blessed shall you be in your going out.
7 By the power of the Lord, those who take arms against you will be overcome before you: they will come out against you one way, and will go in flight from you seven ways.
The Lord deliver your enemies that withstand you utterly broken before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and they shall flee seven ways from before you.
8 The Lord will send his blessing on your store-houses and on everything to which you put your hand: his blessing will be on you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
The Lord send upon you his blessing in your barns, and on all on which you shall put your hand, in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
9 The Lord will keep you as a people holy to himself, as he has said to you in his oath, if you keep the orders of the Lord your God and go on walking in his ways.
The Lord raise you up for himself a holy people, as he sware to your fathers; if you will hear the voice of the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways.
10 And all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is on you, and they will go in fear of you.
And all the nations of the earth shall see you, that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they shall stand in awe of you.
11 And the Lord will make you fertile in every good thing, in the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your fields, in the land which the Lord, by his oath to your fathers, said he would give you.
And the Lord your God shall multiply you for good in the offspring of your body, and in the offspring of your cattle, and in the fruits of your land, on your land which the Lord sware to your fathers to give to you.
12 Opening his store-house in heaven, the Lord will send rain on your land at the right time, blessing all the work of your hands: other nations will make use of your wealth, and you will have no need of theirs.
May the Lord open to you his good treasure, the heaven, to give rain to your land in season: may he bless all the works of your hands: so shall you lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; and you will ever have the highest place, if you give ear to the orders of the Lord your God which I give you today, to keep and to do them;
The Lord your God make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall then be above and you shall not be below, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, in all things that I charge you this day to observe.
14 Not turning away from any of the orders which I give you today, to the right hand or to the left, or going after any other gods to give them worship.
You shall not turn aside from any of the commandments, which I charge you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to do all his orders and his laws which I give you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all his commandments, as many as I charge you this day, then all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.
16 You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field.
Cursed [shall] you [be] in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.
Cursed shall be your barns and your stores.
18 A curse will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.
Cursed shall be the offspring of your body, and the fruits of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
Cursed shall you be in your coming in, and cursed shall you be in your going out.
20 The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me.
The Lord send upon you lack, and famine, and consumption of all things on which you shall put your hand, until he shall have utterly destroyed you, and until he shall have consumed you quickly because of your evil devices, because you have forsaken me.
21 The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going.
The Lord cause the pestilence to cleave to you, until he shall have consumed you off the land into which you go to inherit it.
22 The Lord will send wasting disease, and burning pain, and flaming heat against you, keeping back the rain till your land is waste and dead; so will it be till your destruction is complete.
The Lord strike you with distress, and fever, and cold, and inflammation, and blighting, and paleness, and they shall pursue you until they have destroyed you.
23 And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron.
And you shall have over your head a sky of brass, and the earth under you shall be iron.
24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete.
The Lord your God make the rain of your land dust; and dust shall come down from heaven, until it shall have destroyed you, and until it shall have quickly consumed you.
25 The Lord will let you be overcome by your haters: you will go out against them one way, and you will go in flight before them seven ways: you will be the cause of fear among all the kingdoms of the earth.
The Lord give you up for slaughter before your enemies: you shall go out against them one way, and flee from their face seven ways; and you shall be a dispersion in all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 Your bodies will be meat for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to send them away.
And your dead men shall be food to the birds of the sky, and to the beasts of the earth; and there shall be none to scare them away.
27 The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well.
The Lord strike you with the botch of Egypt in the seat, and with a malignant scab, and itch, so that you can not be healed.
28 He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear:
The Lord strike you with insanity, and blindness, and astonishment of mind.
29 You will go feeling your way when the sun is high, like a blind man for whom all is dark, and nothing will go well for you: you will be crushed and made poor for ever, and you will have no saviour.
And you shall grope at mid-day, as a blind man would grope in the darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and then you shall be unjustly treated, and plundered continually, and there shall be no helper.
30 You will take a wife, but another man will have the use of her: the house which your hands have made will never be your resting-place: you will make a vine-garden, and never take the fruit of it.
you shall take a wife, and another man shall have her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes of it.
31 Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you.
Your calf [shall be] slain before you, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be violently taken away from you, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no helper.
32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will be wasted away with looking and weeping for them all the day: and you will have no power to do anything.
Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another nation, and your eyes wasting away shall look for them: your hand shall have no strength.
33 The fruit of your land and all the work of your hands will be food for a nation which is strange to you and to your fathers; you will only be crushed down and kept under for ever:
A nation which you know not shall eat the produce of your land, and all your labours; and you shall be injured and crushed always.
34 So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds.
And you shall be distracted, because of the sights of your eyes which you shall see.
35 The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well.
The Lord strike you with an evil sore, on the knees and the legs, so that you shall not be able to be healed from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36 And you, and the king whom you have put over you, will the Lord take away to a nation strange to you and to your fathers; there you will be servants to other gods of wood and stone.
The Lord carry away you and your princes, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers know; and you shall there serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you.
An you shall be there for a wonder, and a parable, and a tale, amongst all the nations, to which the Lord your God shall carry you away.
38 You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it.
You shall carry forth much seed into the field, and you shall bring in little, because the locust shall devour it.
39 You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms.
You shall plant a vineyard, and dress it, and shall not drink the wine, neither shall you delight yourself with it, because the worm shall devour it.
40 Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit.
You shall have olive trees in all your borders, and you shall not anoint you with oil, because your olive shall utterly cast [its fruit].
41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land.
You shall beget sons and daughters, and they shall not be [your], for they shall depart into captivity.
42 All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's.
All your trees and the fruits of your land shall the blight consume.
43 The man from a strange land who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower.
The stranger that is within you shall get up very high, and you shall come down very low.
44 He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail.
He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45 And all these curses will come after you and overtake you, till your destruction is complete; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, or keep his laws and his orders which he gave you:
And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and shall overtake you, until he shall have consumed you, and until he shall have destroyed you; because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commands, and his ordinances which he has commanded you.
46 These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever;
And [these things] shall be signs in you, and wonders amongst your seed for ever;
47 Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things;
because you did not serve the Lord your God with gladness and a good heart, because of the abundance of all things.
48 For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you.
And you shall serve your enemies, which the Lord will send forth against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and you shall wear upon your neck a yoke of iron until he shall have destroyed you.
49 The Lord will send a nation against you from the farthest ends of the earth, coming with the flight of an eagle; a nation whose language is strange to you;
The Lord shall bring upon you a nation from the extremity of the earth, like the swift flying of an eagle, a nation whose voice you shall not understand;
50 A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young:
a nation bold in countenance, which shall not respect the person of the aged and shall not pity the young.
51 He will take the fruit of your cattle and of your land till death puts an end to you: he will let you have nothing of your grain or wine or oil or any of the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, till he has made your destruction complete.
And it shall eat up the young of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, so as not to leave to you corn, wine, oil, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep, until it shall have destroyed you;
52 Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you.
and have utterly crushed you in your cities, until the high and strong walls be destroyed, in which you trust, in all your land; and it shall afflict you in your cities, which he has given to you.
53 And your food will be the fruit of your body, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Lord your God has given you; because of your bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters.
And you shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, all that he has given you, in your straitness and your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you.
54 That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living;
He that is tender and very delicate within you shall look with an evil eye upon his brother, and the wife in his bosom, and the children that are left, which may have been left to him;
55 And will not give to any of them the flesh of his children which will be his food because he has no other; in the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns.
so as [not] to give to one of them of the flesh of his children, whom he shall eat, because of his having nothing left him in your straitness, and in your affliction, with which your enemies shall afflict you in all your cities.
56 The most soft and delicate of your women, who would not so much as put her foot on the earth, so delicate is she, will be hard-hearted to her husband and to her son and to her daughter;
And she that is tender and delicate amongst you, whose foot has not assayed to go upon the earth for delicacy and tenderness, shall look with an evil eye on her husband in her bosom, and her son and her daughter,
57 And to her baby newly come to birth, and to the children of her body; for having no other food, she will make a meal of them secretly, because of her bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns.
and her offspring that comes out between her feet, and the child which she shall bear; for she shall eat them because of the lack of all things, secretly in your straitness, and in your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you in your cities.
58 If you will not take care to do all the words of this law, recorded in this book, honouring that name of glory and of fear, THE LORD YOUR GOD;
If you will not listen to do all the words of this law, which have been written in this book, to fear this glorious and wonderful name, the Lord your God;
59 Then the Lord your God will make your punishment, and the punishment of your seed, a thing to be wondered at; great punishments and cruel diseases stretching on through long years.
then the Lord shall magnify your plagues, and the plagues of your seed, great and wonderful plagues, and evil and dwelling diseases.
60 He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip.
And he shall bring upon you all the evil pain of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cleave to you.
61 And all the diseases and the pains not recorded in the book of this law will the Lord send on you till your destruction is complete.
And the Lord shall bring upon you every sickness, and every plague that is not written, and every one that is written in the book of this law, until he shall have destroyed you.
62 And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God.
And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky in multitude; because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
63 And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and increasing you, so the Lord will take pleasure in cutting you off and causing your destruction, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are about to take as your heritage.
And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you; and you shall be quickly removed from the land, into which you go to inherit it.
64 And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no knowledge.
And the Lord your God shall scatter you amongst all nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and you shall there serve other gods, wood and stone, which you have not known, nor your fathers.
65 And even among these nations there will be no peace for you, and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul:
Moreover amongst those nations he will not give you quiet, neither by any means shall the sole of your foot have rest; and the Lord shall give you there another and a misgiving heart, and failing eyes, and a wasting soul.
66 Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be certain:
And your life shall be in suspense before your eyes; and you shall be afraid by day and by night, and you shall have no assurance of your life.
67 In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see.
In the morning you shall say, Would it were evening! and in the evening you shall say, Would it were morning! for the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sights of your eyes which you shall see.
68 And the Lord will take you back to Egypt again in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will never see it again: there you will be offering yourselves as men-servants and women-servants to your haters for a price, and no man will take you.
And the Lord shall bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said, You shall not see it again; and you shall be sold there to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and none shall buy you.

< Deuteronomy 28 >