The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands^(A) that I give you today. ² When you have crossed the Jordan^(B) into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones^(C) and coat them with plaster.^{(D) 3} Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(E) just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal,^(F) as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar^(G) to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool^(H) on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings^(I) there, eating them and rejoicing^(J) in the presence of the Lord your God.^{(K) 8} And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones^(L) you have set up.”^(M)

Curses From Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical^(N) priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God.^{(O) 10} Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

¹¹ On the same day Moses commanded the people:

¹² When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim^(P) to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,^(Q) Joseph and Benjamin.^{(R) 13} And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal^(S) to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

Blessings for Obedience

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

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

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

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(AV) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(AW) 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^(AX) 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^(AY) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(AZ)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(BA) of his bounty,^(BB) to send rain^(BC) on your land in season and to bless^(BD) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(BE) 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^(BF) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^{(BG) 14} Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(BH) following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

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

²⁰ The Lord will send on you curses,^(BP) confusion and rebuke^(BQ) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin^(BR) because of the evil^(BS) 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.^{(BT) 22} The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,^(BU) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,^(BV) with blight^(BW) and mildew, which will plague^(BX) you until you perish.^{(BY) 23} The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.^{(BZ) 24} The Lord will turn the rain^(CA) 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^(CB) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(CC) and you will become a thing of horror^(CD) to all the kingdoms on earth.^{(CE) 26} Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(CF) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{(CG) 27} The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(CH) 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^(CI) 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^(CJ) you.

³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(CK) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(CL) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^{(CM) 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,^(CN) 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^(CO) all your days.^{(CP) 34} The sights you see will drive you mad.^{(CQ) 35} The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(CR) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(CS)

³⁶ The Lord will drive you and the king^(CT) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(CU) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^{(CV) 37} You will become a thing of horror,^(CW) a byword^(CX) and an object of ridicule^(CY) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(CZ)

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(DA) because locusts^(DB) will devour^(DC) it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(DD) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(DE) them.^{(DF) 40} You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^{(DG) 41} You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^{(DH) 42} Swarms of locusts^(DI) 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.^{(DJ) 44} They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(DK) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(DL)

⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(DM) until you are destroyed,^(DN) 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.^{(DO) 47} Because you did not serve^(DP) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(DQ) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst,^(DR) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(DS) on your neck^(DT) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you^(DU) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(DV) like an eagle^(DW) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^{(DX) 50} a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(DY) 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^(DZ) or olive oil,^(EA) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^{(EB) 52} They will lay siege^(EC) 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.^(ED)

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.^{(EE) 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.^{(EF) 56} The most gentle and sensitive^(EG) 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^{(EH) 57} the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(EI) 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,^(EJ) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(EK) this glorious and awesome name^(EL)—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^(EM) 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,^(EN) until you are destroyed.^{(EO) 62} You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(EP) will be left but few^(EQ) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased^(ER) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(ES) him to ruin and destroy you.^(ET) You will be uprooted^(EU) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter^(EV) you among all nations,^(EW) from one end of the earth to the other.^(EX) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^{(EY) 65} Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(EZ) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(FA) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^{(FB) 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.^{(FC) 68} The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(FD) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Love for Enemies^(A)

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,^{(B) 28} bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.^{(C) 29} If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.^{(D) 31} Do to others as you would have them do to you.^(E)

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?^(F) Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?^(G) Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them,^(H) and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children^(I) of the Most High,^(J) because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful,^(K) just as your Father^(L) is merciful.

Judging Others^(M)

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.^(N) Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.^{(O) 38} Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.^(P) For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”^(Q)

³⁹ He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?^{(R) 40} The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.^(S)

⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit^(T)

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.^(U) People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.^(V)

The Wise and Foolish Builders^(W)

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’^(X) and do not do what I say?^{(Y) 47} As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice,^(Z) I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”