Deuteronomy 28

1 It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

If you truly obey what the Lord your God tells you, and carefully follow all his commandments that I'm giving you today, then the Lord your God will place you high above all the nations of the earth.

2 All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.

You will have all the following blessings and even more, if you do what the Lord your God says.

3 You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.

You will be blessed when you're in the town; you will be blessed when you're in the countryside.

4 You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.

You will be blessed with many children. You will be blessed with good harvests. You will be blessed with livestock—your cattle will have many calves, and your sheep will have many lambs.

5 Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed.

You will be blessed with plenty of bread.

6 You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out.

You will be blessed wherever you go and in everything you do.

7 Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways.

The Lord will defeat the enemies who come to attack you. They will come at you from one direction, but they will scatter seven different ways.

8 Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

The Lord will bless your income and everything you do. The Lord your God will bless you in the country he is giving you.

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

The Lord will make you his holy people, just as he promised you, if you obey the Lord your God's commandments and follow his ways.

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

Then everyone on earth will see that the Lord has chosen you to be his, and they will be afraid of you.

11 Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you.

The Lord will make you very prosperous. You will have many children, your livestock will produce plenty of young, and your land will grow good harvests—all this in the country the Lord promised your forefathers he would give you.

12 Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.

The Lord will provide rain for your land at the right time from his heavenly storehouse to bless all your work growing crops. You will lend money to many nations but you won't need to borrow from any of them.

13 Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today, to observe and to do,

The Lord will put you in first place, not the last. You will only go up, never down, as long as you listen to and follow carefully the commandments of the Lord your God that I'm giving you today.

14 and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Don't deviate from any of my instructions today. Don't go and worship other gods.

15 But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

But if you don't obey the Lord your God by following carefully all his commandments and regulations I'm giving you today, then you will experience all the following curses and more:

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

You will be cursed when you're in the town; you will be cursed when you're in the countryside.

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

You will be cursed by not having bread.

18 The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed.

You will be cursed by not having children, and by not having good harvests, and by your cattle not having calves, and your sheep not having lambs.

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

You will be cursed wherever you go and in everything you do.

20 Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me.

The Lord will send you curses, making you confused and frustrated in everything you do, until you are brought down and die quickly because of the evil that you've done by abandoning him.

21 Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it.

The Lord will give you infectious diseases until he has wiped you out from the country you are entering town.

22 Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish.

Then Lord will hit you with sickness that makes you waste away, with a severe fever and swelling like you're burning up, while your crops are damaged by drought and blight and mildew. These will attack you until you die.

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

The sky above you will be like bronze, and the earth beneath you will be like iron.

24 Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed.

The Lord will change the rain of your land into dust and sand; it will fall from the sky on you until you're destroyed.

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

The Lord will have your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will scatter seven different ways. Everyone on earth will be horrified at what happens to you.

26 Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away.

Your dead bodies will be food for birds of prey and wild animals, and there won't be anyone to scare them away.

27 Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.

The Lord will give you boils like he did to the Egyptians, with swellings and scabs and skin rashes that can't be cured.

28 Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.

The Lord will send you mad and make you blind and confused,

29 You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.

so that even at noon you will be groping around like a blind man in the dark. You won't be successful in what you do. You'll be persecuted and robbed the whole time, and no one will come and save you.

30 You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.

You will be engaged to marry a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house but you won't live in it. You will plant a vineyard but won't benefit from any harvest.

31 Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

Your ox will be slaughtered right in front of you, but you won't eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and won't be returned to you. Your sheep will be taken by your enemies, and no one will come and save you.

32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.

Your sons and daughters will be taken away as slaves to other nations while you watch, and you'll wear your eyes out crying over them, but there won't be anything you can do about it.

33 A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,

A foreign nation you've never heard of will eat all the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will be continually persecuted and downtrodden.

34 so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad.

What you see will drive you mad.

35 Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

The Lord will give you painful boils that can't be cured on your knees and thighs, in fact from head to toe.

36 Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

The Lord will exile you and your chosen king you to a foreign nation that neither you nor your forefathers had ever heard of. There you will worship other gods, idols made of wood and stone.

37 You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

You will be something that horrifies all the nations where you've been exiled by the Lord. They will laugh at you and ridicule you.

38 You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it.

You will sow a lot of seed in the field, but harvest very little because the locusts will destroy it.

39 You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them.

You will plant and vineyards and care for them, but you won't harvest the grapes or drink the wine, because they'll be eaten by maggots.

40 You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.

You will have olive trees all over the country but you won't have any olive oil to use, because the olives will drop early from the trees.

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

You will have sons and daughters, but you won't have them for long, because they will be taken off into captivity as slaves.

42 Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground.

Locust swarms will destroy all your trees and crops.

43 The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.

Foreigners who live with you will rise higher and higher in status above you, while you sink lower and lower.

44 He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the first, and you will be the last.

45 All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.

All these curses will come down on you. They will chase after you and attack you until you die because you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commandments and regulations he gave you.

46 They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever.

They will be lasting evidence, visible signs of what happened to you and your descendants.

47 Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;

Because you did not serve the Lord your God with happiness and with a joyful attitude,

48 therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

you will serve your enemies that the Lord sends to attack you with hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty. He will tie an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

49 Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand,

The Lord will bring a nation to attack you from a long way off, from the ends of the earth. They will swoop down upon you like an eagle, this nation whose language you won't understand.

50 a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.

They are a ruthless nation who don't respect for the old and have no mercy on the young.

51 They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

They will eat your lambs and calves and the crops you've grown until you are destroyed. They won't leave you any grain or new wine or olive oil, no calves from your herds or lambs from your flocks, so you'll die of starvation.

52 They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Yahweh your God has given you.

They will besiege all the towns in your country, until the high, fortified walls that you trust in have fallen. They will besiege all your towns in your country that 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 has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.

You'll end up eating your children, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God gave you, because of the siege and the suffering that your enemy will cause you.

54 The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining,

The kindest and most sensitive man among you will refuse to share his food with his brother, the wife he loves, and those of his own children who are left.

55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.

He will refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children that he's forced to eat because he doesn't have anything else because of the siege and suffering your enemy has caused you in all your towns.

56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,

The kindest and most sensitive woman among you, so kind and sensitive she wouldn't ever go barefoot on the ground, will refuse to share her food, a baby and its afterbirth, with the husband she loves and her own son and daughter.

57 toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates.

She will even secretly eat her the babies she gives birth to and the afterbirth, since she doesn't have anything else because of the siege and suffering your enemy has caused you in all your towns,

58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH your God,

If you don't carefully observe all these laws written down in this book so that you may show respect for this glorious and awesome Lord your God,

59 then Yahweh will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration.

he will bring down on you and your descendants unbelievable disasters, intense and long-lasting diseases, and terrible and incurable sicknesses.

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

He will give you all the diseases you were terrified of in Egypt, and they will stay with you.

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

The Lord will also give you every sickness and disease, even those not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.

62 You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.

You who grew as numerous as the stars in the sky will end up as only a few, because you would not obey what Lord your God told you.

63 It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess.

In the same way as he wanted to make you prosperous and increase in number, so now he will wipe you out and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the country you are going in to own.

64 Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.

The Lord will scatter you among the nations all over the earth, and there you will worship other gods, gods made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers had never heard of.

65 Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.

You won't find any place to rest among those nations, no place of your own. The Lord will make you anxious, with failing eyesight and a mind full of despair.

66 Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life.

You will see your life hanging in the balance as you doubt. You will be afraid day and night, terrified you won't survive.

67 In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.

In the morning you'll say, “I wish it was evening!” and in the evening you'll say, “I wish it was morning!” because you're so frightened by the terrifying things you see.

68 Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.

The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships to a place that I said you weren't ever meant to see again. You will put yourselves on sale there to your enemies as male and female slaves, but nobody will want to buy you.