Deuteronomy 28
1 And it shall be, if thou wilt, hearken, unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I am commanding thee to-day, then will Yahweh thy God set thee on 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 and all these blessings shall come in upon thee, and reach thee, —because thou dost hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God: —
You will have all the following blessings and even more, if you do what the Lord your God says.
3 Blessed shalt, thou be in the city, —and blessed shalt thou be 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 shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle, —the young of thy kine, and the ewes of thy 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, shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough:
You will be blessed with plenty of bread.
6 Blessed, shalt thou be when thou comest in, —and, blessed, shalt thou be when thou goest out:
You will be blessed wherever you go and in everything you do.
7 Yahweh will deliver thine enemies who rise up against thee, to be routed before thee, —one way, shall they come out against thee, and seven ways, shall they flee before thee:
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 to be with thee the blessing, in thy storehouses and in all whereunto thou settest thy hand, —and will bless thee in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee:
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 confirm thee unto himself for a holy people, as he sware unto thee, —because thou dost keep the commandments of Yahweh thy God, and dost 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 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that, the name of Yahweh, hath been called upon thee, —and shall be afraid of thee.
Then everyone on earth will see that the Lord has chosen you to be his, and they will be afraid of you.
11 And Yahweh will cause thee to abound in that which is good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle and in the fruit of thy soil, —upon the soil which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers, to give unto thee:
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 unto thee his rich storehouse—the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless every work of thy hand, so shalt thou lend unto many nations, but thou, shalt 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 Yahweh, will give thee, to be the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be only above, and shalt not be beneath, —because thou dost hearken unto the commandments of Yahweh thy God, which I am commanding thee, to-day, 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 dost not turn side from any of the words which I am commanding you to-day, 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 be, if thou do not hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I am commanding thee to-day, then shall come in upon thee all these curses and shall reach thee: —
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, shalt thou be in the city, —and cursed, shalt thou be 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, shall be thy basket, and thy kneading-trough:
You will be cursed by not having bread.
18 Cursed, shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground—the young of thy kine and the ewes of thy 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, shalt thou be, when thou comest in, —and, cursed, shalt thou be, when thou goest out:
You will be cursed wherever you go and in everything you do.
20 Yahweh will send upon thee cursing, confusion and rebuke, in all whereunto thou settest thy hand that thou mayest do it, —until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast 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 cause to cleave unto thee—the pestilence, —until he hath consumed thee from off the soil which thou art entering to possess.
The Lord will give you infectious diseases until he has wiped you out from the country you are entering town.
22 Yahweh, will smite thee, with consumption and with fever, and with inflammation and with violent heat and with the sword, and with blight and with mildew, —and they shall pursue thee, until thou 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 thy heavens which are over thy head shall become bronze, —and the earth which is under thee iron.
The sky above you will be like bronze, and the earth beneath you will be like iron.
24 Yahweh will cause the rain of thy land to be powder and dust, —out of the heavens, shall it come down upon thee, until thou be 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 give thee up to be routed before thine enemies, one way, shalt thou go out against them, and, seven ways, shalt thou flee before them, —and thou shalt become a terror unto 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 And thy dead body shall become food for every bird of the heavens, and for the beast of the earth, —with none to fright 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 smite thee, with the burning sores of Egypt and with the hemorrhoids, and with scab, and with itch, —of which thou canst 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 smite thee, with madness and with blindness, —and with terror of heart;
The Lord will send you mad and make you blind and confused,
29 and thou shalt he groping about in noonday brightness, as the blind man gropeth in thick darkness, and thou shalt not make thy ways prosper, —but shalt be only oppressed and spoiled all the days with none to save.
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 A wife, shalt thou betroth, and, another man shall lie with her. A house, shalt thou build, and shalt not dwell therein, —A vineyard, shalt thou plant, and shalt not throw it open;
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 Thine ox slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof, Thine ass stolen from before thee, and shall not be restored to thee, —Thy flock given to thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to save.
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 Thy sons and thy daughters given to another people, thine eyes looking on, and failing for them all the day, thine own hand being powerless.
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 The fruit of thy soil, and all thy toilsome produce, shall a people whom thou knowest not, eat up, —and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed, 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 so that thou shalt be mad, —for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
What you see will drive you mad.
35 Yahweh, will smite thee, with a grievous boil, upon the knees and upon the legs, of which thou canst not be healed, —from the sole of thy foot even unto the crown of thy 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 thee and thy king whom thou wilt set up over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, —and thou shalt serve there other gods of wood and of 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 Thus shalt thou become a horror, a byword, and a mockery, among all the peoples whither Yahweh thy God will drive thee.
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 Much seed, shalt thou take out into the field, —and little, shalt thou gather in, for the locust shall consume it.
You will sow a lot of seed in the field, but harvest very little because the locusts will destroy it.
39 Vineyards, shalt thou plant, and dress, —but wine, shalt thou not drink, neither shalt thou gather the grapes, for the worm shall 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 Olive trees, shalt thou have in all thy bounds, —but with oil, shalt thou not anoint thyself, for thine olives, shall 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 Sons and daughters, shalt thou beget, and they shall not be thine, for they shall 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 All thy trees, and the fruit of thy ground, shall the grasshopper, devour.
Locust swarms will destroy all your trees and crops.
43 The sojourner who is in thy midst, shall mount up above thee higher and higher, —whereas, thou, shalt 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, shall lend to thee, but, thou, shalt not lend to him, —he, shall become head, and, thou, shalt become 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 Moreover, all these curses, shall come in upon thee, and pursue thee and overtake thee, until thou be destroyed, —because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he hath commanded thee;
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 shall be upon thee, for a sign, and for a wonder, and upon thy seed, unto times age-abiding.
They will be lasting evidence, visible signs of what happened to you and your descendants.
47 Because thou servedst not Yahweh thy God, with rejoicing, and with gladness of heart, for abundance of all things,
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with happiness and with a joyful attitude,
48 therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, whom Yahweh will send against thee, with hunger and with thirst and with nakedness, and with want of all things, —and he, will put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee.
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 against thee a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, as darteth a bird of prey, —a nation whose tongue thou canst 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 countenance, —who wilt not respect an elder nor to the young, show favour;
They are a ruthless nation who don't respect for the old and have no mercy on the young.
51 then shall he eat the young of thy cattle and the fruit of thy ground until thou art destroyed, who will not leave for thee corn, new wine or oil, the young of thy kine, or the ewes of thy flock, —until he hath caused thee 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 And he shall lay siege to thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down wherein thou wast trusting, in all thy land, —yea he will lay siege to thee in all thy gates, in all thy land which Yahweh thy God, hath given, unto thee.
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 thou wilt eat the fruit of thy body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom Yahweh thy God hath given unto thee—in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemy will straiten thee.
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 that is tender among you, and exceedingly delicate, his eye will be jealous of his brother and of the wife of his bosom, and of the remnant of his sons, whom be might leave behind;
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 one of them, of the flesh of his sons which he will eat, because he hath nothing at all left him, —in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemy will straiten thee within all thy 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 hath never adventured the sole of her foot to set it upon the ground, through delicateness and through tenderness, her eye shall be jealous of the husband of her bosom, and of her own son, and of her own 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 both as to her afterbirth that cometh forth from between her feet and as to her children which she shall bear, for she will eat them for want of all things secretly, —in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemy will straiten thee within thine own 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 thou wilt not take heed to do all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, —to revere this glorious and reverend name, Yahweh thy 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 will Yahweh make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, —plagues great and lasting, and diseases grievous and lasting;
he will bring down on you and your descendants unbelievable disasters, intense and long-lasting diseases, and terrible and incurable sicknesses.
60 and he will bring back on thee all the sickness of Egypt, because of which thou wast afraid, —and they shall cleave unto thee;
He will give you all the diseases you were terrified of in Egypt, and they will stay with you.
61 even every disease and, every plague, which are not written in this scroll of the law, will Yahweh bring up against thee, until thou art 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 ye shall be left men few in number, whereas ye had become as the stars of the heavens for multitude, —because thou hast not hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh thy God.
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 shall come to pass that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so, will Yahweh rejoice over you, to cause you to perish and to destroy you, —and ye shall be torn away, from off the soil, whither thou art 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 Yahweh will scatter thee among all the peoples, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth, —and thou wilt serve there other gods whom thou hast not known—thou nor thy fathers, —of wood and of 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 among those nations, shalt thou find no ease, neither shall there be a place of rest for the sole of thy foot, —but Yahweh will give unto thee there a trembling heart, and a failing of eyes and faintness 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 And thy life will be hung up for thee in front, —and thou wilt be in dread by night and by day, and wilt not trust in thy 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, thou wilt say—Oh that it were evening! and in the evening, thou wilt say—Oh that it were morning! because of the dread of thy heart which thou wilt dread, and because of the sight of thine eyes which thou wilt 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 Yahweh will take thee back again to Egypt in ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt not again any more see it. And ye will offer yourselves there for sale unto thine enemies as servants and as handmaids with no one to buy.
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.
