⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,^(A) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^(B)

Blessings for Obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow^(A) all his commands^(B) I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.^{(C) 2} All these blessings will come on you^(D) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies^(I) who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.^(J)

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless^(K) you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(L) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(M) of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name^(N) of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock^(O) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(P)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(Q) of his bounty,^(R) to send rain^(S) on your land in season and to bless^(T) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(U) 13} The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow^(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^{(W) 14} Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(X) following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ However, if you do not obey^(Y) the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today,^(Z) all these curses will come on you and overtake you:^(AA)

²⁰ The Lord will send on you curses,^(AF) confusion and rebuke^(AG) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin^(AH) because of the evil^(AI) you have done in forsaking him.^{[a] 21} The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.^{(AJ) 22} The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,^(AK) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,^(AL) with blight^(AM) and mildew, which will plague^(AN) you until you perish.^{(AO) 23} The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.^{(AP) 24} The Lord will turn the rain^(AQ) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated^(AR) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(AS) and you will become a thing of horror^(AT) to all the kingdoms on earth.^{(AU) 26} Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(AV) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{(AW) 27} The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(AX) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope^(AY) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue^(AZ) you.

³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(BA) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(BB) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^{(BC) 31} Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,^(BD) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression^(BE) all your days.^{(BF) 34} The sights you see will drive you mad.^{(BG) 35} The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(BH) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(BI)

³⁶ The Lord will drive you and the king^(BJ) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(BK) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^{(BL) 37} You will become a thing of horror,^(BM) a byword^(BN) and an object of ridicule^(BO) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(BP)

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(BQ) because locusts^(BR) will devour^(BS) it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(BT) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(BU) them.^{(BV) 40} You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^{(BW) 41} You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^{(BX) 42} Swarms of locusts^(BY) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³ The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.^{(BZ) 44} They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(CA) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(CB)

⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(CC) until you are destroyed,^(CD) because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.^{(CE) 47} Because you did not serve^(CF) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(CG) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst,^(CH) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(CI) on your neck^(CJ) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you^(CK) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(CL) like an eagle^(CM) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^{(CN) 50} a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(CO) or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine^(CP) or olive oil,^(CQ) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^{(CR) 52} They will lay siege^(CS) to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(CT)

⁵³ Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.^{(CU) 54} Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.^{(CV) 56} The most gentle and sensitive^(CW) woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter^{(CX) 57} the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(CY) secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

⁵⁸ If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law,^(CZ) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(DA) this glorious and awesome name^(DB)—the Lord your God— ⁵⁹ the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt^(DC) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law,^(DD) until you are destroyed.^{(DE) 62} You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(DF) will be left but few^(DG) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased^(DH) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(DI) him to ruin and destroy you.^(DJ) You will be uprooted^(DK) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter^(DL) you among all nations,^(DM) from one end of the earth to the other.^(DN) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^{(DO) 65} Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(DP) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(DQ) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^{(DR) 66} You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.^{(DS) 68} The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(DT) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Psalm 75^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

43 When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them^(A)— ² Azariah son of Hoshaiah^(B) and Johanan^(C) son of Kareah and all the arrogant^(D) men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying!^(E) The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’^{(F) 3} But Baruch^(G) son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians,^[a] so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”^(H)

⁴ So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people^(I) disobeyed the Lord’s command^(J) to stay in the land of Judah.^{(K) 5} Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.^{(L) 6} They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women,^(M) the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch^(N) son of Neriah along with them. ⁷ So they entered Egypt^(O) in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes.^(P)

⁸ In Tahpanhes^(Q) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ⁹ “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones^(R) with you and bury them in clay in the brick^(S) pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace^(T) in Tahpanhes. ¹⁰ Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant^(U) Nebuchadnezzar^(V) king of Babylon, and I will set his throne^(W) over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy^(X) above them. ¹¹ He will come and attack Egypt,^(Y) bringing death^(Z) to those destined^(AA) for death, captivity to those destined for captivity,^(AB) and the sword to those destined for the sword.^{(AC) 12} He will set fire^(AD) to the temples^(AE) of the gods^(AF) of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive.^(AG) As a shepherd picks^(AH) his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. ¹³ There in the temple of the sun^[b](AI) in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars^(AJ) and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”

³⁶ He led them out of Egypt^(A) and performed wonders and signs^(B) in Egypt, at the Red Sea^(C) and for forty years in the wilderness.^(D)

³⁷ “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’^{[a](E) 38} He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel^(F) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;^(G) and he received living words^(H) to pass on to us.^(I)

³⁹ “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(J) 40} They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’^{[b](K) 41} That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.^{(L) 42} But God turned away from them^(M) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.^(N) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law^(P) with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.^{(Q) 45} After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.^(R) It remained in the land until the time of David,^{(S) 46} who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^{[d](T) 47} But it was Solomon who built a house for him.^(U)

⁴⁸ “However, the Most High^(V) does not live in houses made by human hands.^(W) As the prophet says:

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people!^(Z) Your hearts^(AA) and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?^(AB) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him^(AC)— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels^(AD) but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious^(AE) and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,^(AF) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(AG) 56} “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open^(AH) and the Son of Man^(AI) standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city^(AJ) and began to stone him.^(AK) Meanwhile, the witnesses^(AL) laid their coats^(AM) at the feet of a young man named Saul.^(AN)

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^{(AO) 60} Then he fell on his knees^(AP) and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”^(AQ) When he had said this, he fell asleep.^(AR)