Deuteronomy 28

1 If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God so as to keep all his commandments that I am commanding you today, Yahweh your God will set you above all the other nations of the earth.

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:

2 All these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if your ears are open to the voice of the Lord your God.

3 Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the field.

A blessing will be on you in the town, and a blessing in the field.

4 Blessed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.

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.

5 Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

A blessing will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.

6 Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

A blessing will be on your coming in and on your going out.

7 Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before you; they will come out against you one way but will flee before you seven ways.

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.

8 Yahweh will command the blessing to come on you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to; he will bless you in the land that he is giving you.

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.

9 Yahweh will establish you as a people that is set apart for himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways.

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.

10 All the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Yahweh, and they will be afraid of you.

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.

11 Yahweh will make you very prosperous in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your cattle, in the fruit of your ground, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

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.

12 Yahweh will open to you his storehouse of the heavens to give the rain for your land at the right time, and to bless all the work of your hand; you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

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.

13 Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; you will be only above, and you will never be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today, so as to observe and to do them,

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;

14 and if you do not turn away from any of the words that I am commanding you today, to the right hand or to the left, so as to go after other gods to serve them.

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.

15 But if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep all his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

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:

16 Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the field.

You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field.

17 Cursed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.

18 Cursed will be the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.

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.

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

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

20 Yahweh will send on you curses, confusion, and rebukes in all that you put your hand to, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly because of your wicked actions by which you will have forsaken me.

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.

21 Yahweh will make the plague cling to you until he destroys you from off the land that you are going in to possess.

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.

22 Yahweh will attack you with infectious diseases, with fever, with inflammation, and with drought and blistering heat, and with scorching winds and mildew. These will pursue you until you perish.

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.

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

And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron.

24 Yahweh will make the rain of your land into powder and dust; from the heavens will it come down on you, until you are destroyed.

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete.

25 Yahweh will cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you will go out one way against them but will flee before them seven ways. You will be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.

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.

26 Your dead body will be food to all the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to frighten them away.

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.

27 Yahweh will attack you with the boils of Egypt and with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, from which you cannot be healed.

The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well.

28 Yahweh will attack you with madness, with blindness, and with mental confusion.

He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear:

29 You will grope about at noonday like the blind grope in the darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; you will be always oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you.

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.

30 You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will seize her and rape her. You will build a house but not live in it; you will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.

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.

31 Your ox will be slain before your eyes, but you will not eat its meat; your donkey will be forcibly taken away from before you and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to aid you.

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.

32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to other peoples; your eyes will look for them the entire day, but will fail with longing for them. There will be no strength in your hand.

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.

33 The harvest of your land and of all your labors—a nation that you do not know will eat it up; you will always be oppressed and crushed,

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:

34 so that you will become insane by what you have to see happen.

So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds.

35 Yahweh will attack you in the knees and legs with severe boils from which you cannot be cured, from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.

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.

36 Yahweh will take you and the king whom you will place over yourself to a nation that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; there you will worship other gods of wood and stone.

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.

37 You will become a source of horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you.

38 You will take much seed out into the field, but will gather little seed in, for the locusts will consume it.

You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it.

39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will neither drink any of the wine, nor even gather in the grapes, for worms will eat them.

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.

40 You will have olive trees within all your territory, but you will not rub any of the oil on yourself, for your olive trees will drop their fruit.

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.

41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, for they will go into captivity.

You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land.

42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground—the locusts will take them over.

All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's.

43 The foreigner who is among you will rise up above you higher and higher; you yourself will come down lower and lower.

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.

44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

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.

45 All these curses will come on you and will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. This will happen because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep his commandments and his regulations that he commanded you.

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:

46 These curses will be on you as signs and wonders, and on your descendants forever.

These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever;

47 Because you did not worship Yahweh your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart when you were in prosperity,

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;

48 therefore will you serve the enemies that Yahweh will send against you; you will serve them in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in poverty. He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys you.

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.

49 Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle flies to its victim, a nation whose language you do not understand;

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;

50 a nation with a fierce face that does not respect the aged and does not show favor to the young.

A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young:

51 They will eat the young of your cattle and the fruit of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave for you no grain, new wine, or oil, no young of your cattle or of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

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.

52 They will besiege you in all your city gates, until your high and fortified walls come down everywhere in your land, walls in which you had trusted. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout all the land that Yahweh your God had given you.

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.

53 You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will put upon you.

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.

54 The man who is tender and very delicate among you—he will be envious of his brother and his own dear wife, and of whatever children he has left.

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;

55 So he will not give to any of them the flesh of his own children that he is going to eat, because he will have nothing left for himself in the siege and in the distress which your enemy will put upon you within all your city gates.

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.

56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to put the bottom of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness—she will be envious of her own dear husband, of her son, and of her daughter,

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;

57 and of her own newborn that comes out from between her legs, and of the children whom she will bear. She will eat them in private for lack of anything else, during the siege and in the distress which your enemy will put upon you within your city gates.

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.

58 If you do not keep all the words of this law that are written in this book, so as to honor this glorious and fearful name, Yahweh your God,

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;

59 then Yahweh will make your plagues terrible, and those of your descendants; they will be great plagues, of long duration, and severe diseases, of long duration.

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.

60 He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of; they will cling to you.

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.

61 Also every sickness and plague that is not written in the book of this law, those also Yahweh will bring on you until you are destroyed.

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.

62 You will be left few in number, although you were like the stars of the heavens in number, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

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.

63 As Yahweh once rejoiced over you in doing you good, and in multiplying you, so he will rejoice over you in making you perish and in destroying you. You will be plucked off the land that you are going into to possess.

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.

64 Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; there you will worship other gods that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, gods of wood and stone.

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.

65 Among these nations will you find no ease, and there will be no rest for the bottoms of your feet; instead, Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a soul that mourns.

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:

66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will fear every night and day and will have no certainty at all in your life.

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:

67 In the morning you will say, 'I wish it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'I wish it were morning!' because of the fear in your hearts and the things your eyes will have to see.

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.

68 Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again by ships, by the route about which I had said to you, 'You will not see Egypt again.' There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will purchase you.”

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.