Deuteronomy 28
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
“If you do what Yahweh our God tells you to do and faithfully obey everything that I am today commanding you to do, he will cause you to become greater than any other nation on the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God.
If you obey Yahweh, this is what he will do to bless you:
3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
He will bless everything that you do when you are in the cities and he will bless everything that you do when you are [working] in the fields.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep.
He will bless you by giving you many children [IDM] and by giving you abundant crops, and plenty of cattle and sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
He will bless you by causing you to have good harvests with plenty of grain [MTY] to make bread.
6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
He will bless you [everywhere]—when you go out [of your houses] and when you come into [your houses].
7 The LORD shall cause thy enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
Yahweh will enable you to defeat [the armies of] your enemies; they will attack you from one direction, but they will run away from you in seven/many directions.
8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thy hand to; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Yahweh will bless you [by filling] your barns [with grain], and he will bless all the work that you do; he will bless you in the land that he is giving to you.
9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people to himself, as he hath sworn to thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
“If you obey all the commandments that Yahweh our God [has given to you] and if you conduct your lives as he wants you to do, you will continue to be his people, which is what he promised.
10 And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
“When all the people-groups on the earth will realize that you belong to [MTY] Yahweh, and they will be afraid of you.
11 And the LORD shall make thee to abound in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD swore to thy fathers to give thee.
“And Yahweh will cause you to prosper very much. He will give you many children [IDM], many cattle, and abundant crops in the land that he vowed to our ancestors that he would give to you.
12 The LORD shall open to thee his good treasure, the heaven to give rain to thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
“When rain is needed, Yahweh will send it from where he stores it in the sky, and he will bless all your work, with the result that you [will be able to] lend money to many other nations, but you will not need to borrow [money from them].
13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken to the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
If you faithfully obey all of the commands of Yahweh our God that I am giving you today, Yahweh will cause your nation to be a leader among the nations, not inferior to them; you will always be prosperous and never be needy/poor [IDM].
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
[Yahweh will do all these things for you] if you do not turn away from [obeying] what I am commanding you today, and if you never worship or serve other gods.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
But if you do not do what Yahweh our God is telling you to do, and if you do not faithfully obey all his rules and regulations that I am giving to you today, this is what he will do to curse you:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
He will curse you when you are in the cities and he will curse you when you are [working] in the fields.
17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
He will curse you by not allowing you to have good harvests with plenty of grain [MTY] to make bread.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep.
He will curse you by giving you only a few children [IDM], by causing you to have poor crops, and by not enabling you to have many cattle and sheep.
19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
He will curse you [everywhere]—when you go out [of your houses] and when you come into [your houses].
20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thy hand to do, until thou shalt be destroyed, and until thou shalt perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, by which thou hast forsaken me.
If you do evil things and reject Yahweh, he will curse you by causing you to (be confused/not know what to do), and to be frustrated in everything that you do, until [your enemies] quickly and completely destroy you {you will be quickly and completely destroyed}.
21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave to thee, until he shall have consumed thee from off the land, where thou goest to possess it.
Yahweh will cause you to experience terrible diseases, until not one of you remains alive in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.
22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blighting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou dost perish.
Yahweh will strike/afflict you with diseases that shrivel your bodies, with fever, with inflammation/swelling. It will be extremely hot, and it will not rain. There will be scorching winds, and [Yahweh will cause] your crops to rot. All these things will strike you until you die.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
There will be no rain [MET], [with the result that] the ground will be [as hard as] iron [MET].
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou art destroyed.
Instead of sending rain, Yahweh will send strong winds to blow sand and dust over your land, until your land is ruined.
25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thy enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Yahweh will enable your enemies to defeat you; your soldiers will attack your enemies from one direction, but they will run away from your enemies in seven/many directions, and when the people of other nations see what is happening to you, they will say that it is horrible.
26 And thy dead body shall be food to all fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten them away.
[You will die], and birds and wild animals will come and eat your corpses, and there will not be anyone to scare/shoo them away.
27 The LORD will smite thee with the boil of Egypt, and with tumours, and with the scab, and with the itch, of which thou canst not be healed.
Yahweh will cause you to have boils on your skin, like he caused the people of Egypt to have [many years ago]. He will cause you to have tumors, open sores, and your skin will itch, and there will be nothing that will cure those diseases.
28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Yahweh will cause [some of] you to become insane; he will cause some of you to become blind, and he will cause [some of] your minds to become confused.
29 And thou shalt grope at noon, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
[Because you will not be able to see where you are going], at midday you will (grope/feel your way) around with your hands, like people do in the darkness. You will continually be oppressed and robbed, and no one will help you.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell in it: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes of it.
Some of you men will be engaged/promised to marry a young woman, but someone else will rape her. You will build houses, but you will never live in them. You will plant grapevines, but you will not eat the grapes; [someone else will eat them].
31 Thy ox shall be slain before thy eyes, and thou shalt not eat of it: thy donkey shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given to thy enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Your enemies will butcher your cattle while you watch them, and you will not get any of the meat to eat. They will drag away your donkeys while you watch them do it, and they will not give them back to you. They will take away your sheep; and no one will help you [rescue them].
32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people, and thy eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thy hand.
While you watch, your sons and daughters will be given to foreigners to become their slaves. Every day you will very sadly watch for your children to return, but (you will watch in vain/they will never return).
33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall be eaten by a nation which thou knowest not; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always:
People from a foreign nation will take all the crops that you worked hard to produce, and they will constantly treat you harshly and cruelly [DOU].
34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see.
The result will be that all these terrible things that you see/experience will cause you to become insane.
35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with severe boils that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot to the top of thy head.
Yahweh will cause your legs [to be covered with] painful boils that cannot be healed, and you will have boils from the bottoms of your feet to the tops of your heads.
36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, to a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Yahweh will cause your king and the rest of you to be taken to another country, to a place in which you and your ancestors have never lived before, and there you will worship and serve gods that are made of wood or stone.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations where the LORD shall lead thee.
When the people-groups in nearby countries see what has happened to you, they will be shocked/horrified; they will make fun [DOU] of you.
38 Thou shalt carry much seed into the field, and shalt gather but little; for the locust shall consume it.
You will plant plenty of seeds in your fields, but you will reap only a small harvest, because locusts will eat the crops.
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
You will plant grapevines and take care of them, but you will not pick any grapes to make wine, because worms will eat the vines.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy land, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thy olive shall cast its fruit.
Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will not get any olive oil to rub on your skin because the olives will drop [on the ground before they are ripe].
41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
You will have sons and daughters, but they will not stay with you, because they will be captured and taken away.
42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
Swarms of locusts/insects will eat your crops and [the leaves of] all your trees.
43 The stranger that is within thee shall rise above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
Foreigners who live in your land will become more and more [powerful], and you will become less and less [powerful].
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
They will [have money to] lend to you, but you will not [have any money to] lend to them. They will be superior [IDM] to you, and you will be inferior to them [IDM].
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou art destroyed; because thou didst hearken not to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
“You will experience all these disasters, and you will continue to experience them you until you are destroyed, if you do not do what Yahweh your God told you to do, and do not obey all the rules and regulations that he gave to you.
46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
“These disasters will warn [DOU] you and your descendants forever [about what happens to groups who disobey Yahweh].
47 Because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
“Because Yahweh blessed you abundantly in many ways, you should have served him very joyfully [DOU], but you did not do that.
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thy enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee.
“Therefore, you will work for the enemies whom Yahweh will send to attack you. You will be hungry and thirsty; you will not have clothes to wear; and you will lack everything else that you need. And Yahweh will cause you to become slaves [MET] and work hard until he gets rid of you.
49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose language thou shalt not understand;
“Yahweh will cause an army from very far away [HYP] to attack you, whose soldiers speak a language that you do not know/understand. They will swoop down on you [quickly] like an eagle [SIM] attacks its prey.
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
They will be fierce looking. They will not act mercifully toward anyone, not even young children and old people.
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou art destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either grain, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy cattle, or flocks of thy sheep, until he hath destroyed thee.
They will [kill and] eat your livestock, and they will eat your crops, and you will (starve/die because you do not have anything to eat). They will not leave for you any grain or wine or [olive] oil or cattle or sheep; and you will all die [from hunger].
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, in which thou didst trust, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Your enemies will surround your towns throughout the land that Yahweh your God is about to give to you, and they will break down the high and strong walls [around your towns], walls which you trusted/thought would protect you.
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the distress, by which thy enemies shall distress thee:
“When your enemies are surrounding [your towns], you will be extremely hungry, with the result that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters that Yahweh your God has given to you.
54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he shall leave:
When your enemies have surrounded your towns, even the most gentle and sensitive men among you will want food very desperately, with the result that they will [kill their own children and] eat their flesh, because they will not have anything else to eat. They will not even share any of it with their brothers or wives whom they love very much or with any of their children who are still alive.
55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the distress, by which thy enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.
56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
Even the most gentle and sensitive/kind women among you, who are very refined/rich with the result that they have never had to walk anywhere [HYP], will do the same thing. When your enemies have surrounded your towns, those women will be extremely hungry, with the result that after they give birth to a baby, they will secretly [kill it and] eat its flesh and also eat its afterbirth. And they will not share any of it with their husbands whom they love very much or with any of their other children.
57 And toward her young one her own offspring, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for lack of all things secretly in the siege and distress, by which thy enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
“If you do not faithfully obey all of the laws that I am writing, and if you do not revere Yahweh our glorious God [MTY],
59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and grievous sicknesses, and of long continuance.
he will [punish you by] causing you and your descendants to experience great afflictions and plagues which will last for many years.
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, of which thou wast afraid; and they shall cleave to thee.
He will cause you to experience the plagues that he sent on the people of Egypt, and you will never be healed.
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou art destroyed.
He will also cause you to experience many other sicknesses and diseases that I have not talked about in these laws, until you all will die.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, though ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
You became as numerous as the stars in the sky, but only a few of you will remain alive, if you do not obey Yahweh your God.
63 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 to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land where thou goest to possess it.
Yahweh was very happy to do good things for you and to cause you to become very numerous, but now he will be happy to ruin you and get rid of you. [Those of] you [who do not die from these plagues] will be snatched away from the land that you will soon be entering to possess.
64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
“Yahweh will scatter you among many people-groups, all over the earth, and in those areas/places you will serve other gods that are made of wood or stone, gods which you and your ancestors have never known/worshiped.
65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
In those places you will be restless. Yahweh will cause you to be constantly worried/anxious, feel hopeless, and discouraged.
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of thy life:
You will always be afraid that your enemies will kill you. You will be very fearful, all day and all night.
67 In the morning thou shalt say, O that it were evening! and at evening thou shalt say, O that it were morning! for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see.
Because you will be very fearful/afraid because of the [terrible] things that you see, each morning you will say ‘I wish it were evening already!’ and each evening you will say ‘I wish it were morning already!’
68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I have said to thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold to your enemies for male and female slaves, and no man shall buy you.
Yahweh will send [some of] you back to Egypt in ships, even though he promised that you would never [be forced to] go there again. There in Egypt you will try to sell yourselves to become slaves of your enemies [in order to have food to eat], but no one will buy you. [All those things will happen to you if you do not obey the laws that Yahweh is giving to you].”
