Deuteronomy 28

1 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.

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of YHWH thy Elohim, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that YHWH thy Elohim will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

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

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of YHWH thy Elohim.

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

Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 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.

Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 You will be blessed with plenty of bread.

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

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

Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7 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.

YHWH shall cause thine 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.

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

YHWH shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which YHWH thy Elohim giveth thee.

9 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.

YHWH shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of YHWH thy Elohim, and walk in his ways.

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

And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of YHWH; and they shall be afraid of thee.

11 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.

And YHWH shall make thee plenteous 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 YHWH sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12 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.

YHWH shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13 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.

And YHWH shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of YHWH thy Elohim, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

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

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 elohim to serve them.

15 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:

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of YHWH thy Elohim, 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:

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

Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17 You will be cursed by not having bread.

Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18 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.

Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

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

Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20 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.

YHWH shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

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

YHWH shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

22 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.

YHWH 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 blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

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

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

24 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.

YHWH shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

25 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.

YHWH shall cause thee to be smitten before thine 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.

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

And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

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

YHWH will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

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

YHWH shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

29 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.

And thou shalt grope at noonday, 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.

30 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.

Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

31 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.

Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

32 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.

Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long; and there shall be no might in thine hand.

33 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.

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

34 What you see will drive you mad.

So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

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

YHWH shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

36 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.

YHWH shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other elohim, wood and stone.

37 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.

And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither YHWH shall lead thee.

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

Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.

39 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.

Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.

40 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.

Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

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

Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

42 Locust swarms will destroy all your trees and crops.

All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

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

The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

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

He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

45 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.

Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of YHWH thy Elohim, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

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

And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

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

Because thou servedst not YHWH thy Elohim with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

48 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.

Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which YHWH shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

49 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.

YHWH shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

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

A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

51 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.

And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

52 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.

And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which YHWH thy Elohim hath given thee.

53 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.

And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which YHWH thy Elohim hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

54 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.

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 which he shall leave:

55 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.

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 straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

56 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.

The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure 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,

57 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,

And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

58 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,

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, YHWH THY Elohim;

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

Then YHWH will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

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

Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.

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

Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will YHWH bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

62 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.

And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of YHWH thy Elohim.

63 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.

And it shall come to pass, that as YHWH rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so YHWH will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

64 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.

And YHWH shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other elohim, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

65 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.

And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but YHWH shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

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

And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:

67 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.

In the morning thou shalt say, Would Elohim it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would Elohim it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

68 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.

And YHWH shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.