Deuteronomy 28

1 “And it has been, if you listen diligently to the voice of your God YHWH, to observe to do all His commands which I am commanding you today, that your God YHWH has made you highest 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 and all these blessings have come on you and overtaken you, because you listen to the voice of your God YHWH:

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

3 Blessed [are] you in the city, and blessed [are] you in the field.

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

4 Blessed [is] the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, the increase of your oxen, and the wealth 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 Blessed [is] your basket and your kneading-trough.

You will be blessed with plenty of bread.

6 Blessed [are] you in your coming in, and blessed [are] you in your going out.

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

7 YHWH makes your enemies, who are rising up against you, to be struck before your face; in one way they come out to you, and in seven ways they flee before you.

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 YHWH commands the blessing with you in your storehouses, and in every putting forth of your hand, and has blessed you in the land which your God YHWH is giving to 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 YHWH establishes you to Himself for a holy people, as He has sworn to you, when you keep the commands of your God YHWH and have walked 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 and all the peoples of the land have seen that the Name of YHWH is called by you, and they have been 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 And YHWH has made you abundant in good, in the fruit of the womb, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, on the ground which YHWH has sworn to your fathers to give to 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 YHWH opens his good treasure to you—the heavens—to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand, and you have lent to many nations, and you do 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 And YHWH has set you for head and not for tail; and you have been only above, and are not beneath, for you listen to the commands of your God YHWH, which I am commanding you today, to keep 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 you do not turn aside from all the words which I am commanding you today [to] the right or 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 And it has been, if you do not listen to the voice of your God YHWH, to observe to do all His commands and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these revilings have come on you and overtaken 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 Cursed [are] you in the city, and cursed [are] you in the field.

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

17 Cursed [is] your basket and your kneading-trough.

You will be cursed by not having bread.

18 Cursed [is] the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land, the increase of your oxen, and the wealth of your flock.

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 Cursed [are] you in your coming in, and cursed [are] you in your going out.

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

20 YHWH sends the curse, the trouble, and the rebuke on you, in every putting forth of your hand which you 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 YHWH causes the pestilence to cleave to you until He consumes you from off the ground to where you are going 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 YHWH strikes you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with extreme burning, and with sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they have pursued 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 And your heavens which [are] over your head have been bronze, and the earth which [is] under you iron;

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

24 YHWH gives dust and ashes [for] the rain of your land; it comes down on you from the heavens 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 YHWH makes you struck before your enemies; in one way you go out to them, and in seven ways you flee before them, and you have been for a trembling to all 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 and your carcass has been for food for every bird of the heavens and for the beast of the earth, and there is none causing [them] to tremble.

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

27 YHWH strikes you with the ulcer of Egypt, and with lumps, and with scurvy, and with itch, of which you are not able to 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 YHWH strikes you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;

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

29 and you have been groping at noon, as the blind gropes in darkness; and you do not cause your ways to prosper; and you have been only oppressed and plundered [for] all the days, and there is no savior.

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 betroth a woman, and another man lies with her; you build a house, and do not dwell in it; you plant a vineyard, and do not make it common;

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 [is] slaughtered before your eyes, and you do not eat of it; your donkey [is] violently taken away from before you, and it is not given back to you; your sheep [are] given to your enemies, and there is no savior for 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 [are] given to another people, and your eyes are looking and consumed for them all the day, but your hand is not to God!

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 people whom you have not known eat the fruit of your ground and all your labor; and you have been only oppressed and bruised [for] all the days;

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 and you have been mad because of the sight of your eyes which you see.

What you see will drive you mad.

35 YHWH strikes you with a severe ulcer on the knees and on the legs (of which you are not able to be healed), from the sole of your foot even to your crown.

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

36 YHWH causes you and your king whom you raise up over you to go to a nation which you have not known, you and your fathers, and you have served other gods there—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 and you have been for an astonishment, for an allegory, and for a byword among all the peoples to where YHWH leads you.

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 take much seed out into the field, and you gather little in, for the locust consumes it;

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

39 you plant vineyards and have labored, but you do not drink wine, nor gather [grapes], for the worm consumes it;

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 olives are yours in all your border, but you do not pour out oil, for your olive falls 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 beget sons and daughters, but they are not with you, for they 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 the locust possesses all your trees and the fruit of your ground;

Locust swarms will destroy all your trees and crops.

43 the sojourner who [is] in your midst goes up very high above you, and you go down very low;

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

44 he lends [to] you, and you do not lend [to] him; he is for head and you are for 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 And all these curses have come on you, and pursued you, and overtaken you, until you are destroyed, because you have not listened to the voice of your God YHWH, to keep His commands and His statutes which he has 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 and they have been on you for a sign and for a wonder, also on your seed—for all time.

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

47 Because that you have not served your God YHWH with joy and with gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things—

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

48 you have served your enemies, whom YHWH sends against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things; and He has put a yoke of iron 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 YHWH lifts up a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth—it flies as the eagle—a nation whose tongue you have not heard,

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 countenance, which does not accept the face of the aged and does not favor the young;

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

51 and it has eaten the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; which does not leave to you grain, new wine, and oil, the increase of your oxen, and the wealth of your flock, until it has destroyed you.

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 And it has laid siege to you in all your gates until your walls come down—the high and the fortified ones in which you are trusting, in all your land; indeed, it has laid siege to you in all your gates, in all your land which your God YHWH has given to 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 And you have eaten the fruit of your body, [the] flesh of your sons and your daughters (whom your God YHWH has given to you), in the siege and in the constriction with which your enemies constrict 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 in you, and who [is] very delicate—his eye is evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons whom he leaves,

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 against giving to one of them of the flesh of his sons whom he eats, because he has nothing left for himself in the siege and in the constriction with which your enemy constricts 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 woman in you, and the delicate, who has not tried the sole of her foot to place on the ground because of delicateness and because of tenderness—her eye is evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against 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 and against her seed which comes out from between her feet, even against her sons whom she bears, for she eats them in secret, in the lacking of everything, in the siege and in the constriction with which your enemy constricts you within 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 do not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this scroll, to fear this honored and fearful Name—your God YHWH—

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 YHWH has made your strokes extraordinary, and the strokes [against] your seed [are] great strokes that are persisting and severe sicknesses that are persisting.

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

60 And He has brought back all the diseases of Egypt on you, from the presence of which you have been afraid, and they have cleaved 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 stroke which is not written in the scroll of this law—YHWH causes them to go up 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 and you have been left with few men, whereas that you would have been as stars of the heavens for multitude, for you have not listened to the voice of your God YHWH.

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 And it has been, as YHWH has rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so YHWH rejoices over you to destroy you and to lay you waste; and you have been pulled away from off the ground to where you are going in to possess it;

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 and YHWH has scattered you among all the peoples, from the end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth; and you have served other gods there which you have not known, you and your fathers—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 And you do not rest among those nations, indeed, there is no resting place for the sole of your foot, and YHWH has given to you a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and grief of soul there;

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 and your life has been hanging in suspense before you, and you have been afraid by night and by day, and you do not have assurance in 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 say, O that it were evening! And in the evening you say, O that it were morning! (From the fear of your heart, with which you are afraid, and from the sight of your eyes which you 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 And YHWH has brought you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You do not add to see it anymore; and you have sold yourselves to your enemies there, for menservants and for maidservants, and there is no buyer.”

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.