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:
Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on 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 thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts,
3 A blessing will be on you in the town, and a blessing in the field.
Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed 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 fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep.
5 A blessing will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.
Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.
6 A blessing will be on your coming in and on your going out.
Blessed shalt thou be coming in and 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 shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee.
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 will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive.
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 will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in 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 people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.
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.
The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.
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.
The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.
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;
And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them,
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.
And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship 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 if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
16 You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field.
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.
17 A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin.
Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy 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 fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed 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 shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast 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.
May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.
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.
May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.
23 And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron.
Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of 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 give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.
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 make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout 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 be thy carcass meat for all the Fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive 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 thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed.
28 He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear:
The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury 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 mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee.
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.
Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof.
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.
May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.
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.
May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand.
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:
May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times.
34 So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds.
And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes 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.
May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the 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 shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange 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.
And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.
38 You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it.
Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all.
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.
Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms.
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.
Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.
41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land.
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity.
42 All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's.
The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.
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 liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower.
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 thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt 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 thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee.
46 These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever;
And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy 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 thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for 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.
Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.
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 will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand,
50 A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young:
A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant,
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 will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land: until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee.
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 consume thee in all thy cities, and thy strong and high walls be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee:
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 thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee.
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;
The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom,
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 that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates.
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;
The tender and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of 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 the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates.
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 thou wilt not keep, and fulfill all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name: that is, The Lord thy 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.
The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual.
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 back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee.
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.
Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases, and plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law till he consume thee:
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 remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy 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 as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt go in to possess.
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.
The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy fathers, wood and stone.
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:
Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with pensiveness:
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 thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy 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 thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou shalt see with thy eyes.
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.
The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
