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 listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God so as to keep all his commandments that I am commanding you today, Yahweh your God will set you above all the other 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:

All these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

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

Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the field.

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.

Blessed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.

5 Blessed [is] your basket and your kneading-trough.

Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

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

Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

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.

Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before you; they will come out against you one way but will flee before you seven 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.

Yahweh will command the blessing to come on you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to; he will bless you in the land that 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;

Yahweh will establish you as a people that is set apart for himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in 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.

All the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Yahweh, 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.

Yahweh will make you very prosperous in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your cattle, in the fruit of your ground, in the land that he swore to your fathers to 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.

Yahweh will open to you his storehouse of the heavens to give the rain for your land at the right time, and to bless all the work of your hand; you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

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,

Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; you will be only above, and you will never be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today, so as to observe and to do them,

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.

and if you do not turn away from any of the words that I am commanding you today, to the right hand or to the left, so as to go after other gods to serve them.

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 do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep all his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

16 Cursed [are] you in the city, and cursed [are] you in the field.

Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the field.

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

Cursed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

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.

Cursed will be the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.

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

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

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.

Yahweh will send on you curses, confusion, and rebukes in all that you put your hand to, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly because of your wicked actions by which you will have forsaken me.

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.

Yahweh will make the plague cling to you until he destroys you from off the land that you are going in to possess.

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

Yahweh will attack you with infectious diseases, with fever, with inflammation, and with drought and blistering heat, and with scorching winds and mildew. These will pursue you until you perish.

23 And your heavens which [are] over your head have been bronze, and the earth which [is] under you iron;

Your skies that are over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be 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.

Yahweh will make the rain of your land into powder and dust; from the heavens will it come down on you, until you are 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;

Yahweh will cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you will go out one way against them but will flee before them seven ways. You will be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.

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 body will be food to all the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to frighten 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.

Yahweh will attack you with the boils of Egypt and with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, from which you cannot be healed.

28 YHWH strikes you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;

Yahweh will attack you with madness, with blindness, and with mental confusion.

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.

You will grope about at noonday like the blind grope in the darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; you will be always oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to 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 become engaged to a woman, but another man will seize her and rape her. You will build a house but not live in it; you will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.

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 slain before your eyes, but you will not eat its meat; your donkey will be forcibly taken away from before you and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to aid 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 your daughters will be given to other peoples; your eyes will look for them the entire day, but will fail with longing for them. There will be no strength in your hand.

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;

The harvest of your land and of all your labors—a nation that you do not know will eat it up; you will always be oppressed and crushed,

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

so that you will become insane by what you have to see happen.

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.

Yahweh will attack you in the knees and legs with severe boils from which you cannot be cured, from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.

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;

Yahweh will take you and the king whom you will place over yourself to a nation that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; there you will worship other gods 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 become a source of horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

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

You will take much seed out into the field, but will gather little seed in, for the locusts will consume 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 vineyards and cultivate them, but you will neither drink any of the wine, nor even gather in the grapes, for worms will eat them.

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 within all your territory, but you will not rub any of the oil on yourself, for your olive trees will drop their fruit.

41 You beget sons and daughters, but they are not with you, for they go into captivity;

You will have sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, for they will go into captivity.

42 the locust possesses all your trees and the fruit of your ground;

All your trees and the fruit of your ground—the locusts will take them over.

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

The foreigner who is among you will rise up above you higher and higher; you yourself will come down lower and lower.

44 he lends [to] you, and you do not lend [to] him; he is for head and you are for tail.

He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

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 on you and will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. This will happen because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep his commandments and his regulations that he commanded you.

46 and they have been on you for a sign and for a wonder, also on your seed—for all time.

These curses will be on you as signs and wonders, and on your descendants forever.

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 worship Yahweh your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart when you were in prosperity,

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.

therefore will you serve the enemies that Yahweh will send against you; you will serve them in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in poverty. He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys 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,

Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle flies to its victim, a nation whose language you do not understand;

50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not accept the face of the aged and does not favor the young;

a nation with a fierce face that does not respect the aged and does not show favor to 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 the young of your cattle and the fruit of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave for you no grain, new wine, or oil, no young of your cattle or of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

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 you in all your city gates, until your high and fortified walls come down everywhere in your land, walls in which you had trusted. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout all the land that Yahweh your God had 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 will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will put upon 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 man who is tender and very delicate among you—he will be envious of his brother and his own dear wife, and of whatever children he has 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.

So he will not give to any of them the flesh of his own children that he is going to eat, because he will have nothing left for himself in the siege and in the distress which your enemy will put upon you within all your city gates.

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 tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to put the bottom of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness—she will be envious of her own dear husband, of her son, and of her 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.

and of her own newborn that comes out from between her legs, and of the children whom she will bear. She will eat them in private for lack of anything else, during the siege and in the distress which your enemy will put upon you within your city gates.

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 do not keep all the words of this law that are written in this book, so as to honor this glorious and fearful name, Yahweh 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.

then Yahweh will make your plagues terrible, and those of your descendants; they will be great plagues, of long duration, and severe diseases, of long duration.

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 bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of; they will cling to 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,

Also every sickness and plague that is not written in the book of this law, those also Yahweh will bring on you 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 will be left few in number, although you were like the stars of the heavens in number, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

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;

As Yahweh once rejoiced over you in doing you good, and in multiplying you, so he will rejoice over you in making you perish and in destroying you. You will be plucked off the land that you are going into to possess.

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.

Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; there you will worship other gods that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, gods of wood and stone.

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;

Among these nations will you find no ease, and there will be no rest for the bottoms of your feet; instead, Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a soul that mourns.

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;

Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will fear every night and day and will have no certainty at all in your life.

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 will say, 'I wish it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'I wish it were morning!' because of the fear in your hearts and the things your eyes will have to 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.”

Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again by ships, by the route about which I had said to you, 'You will not see Egypt again.' There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will purchase you.”