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Deuteronomy 27-29
New International Reader's Version

The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Moses and the elders of Israel gave commands to the people. They said, “Obey all the commands we’re giving you today. 2 You will go across the Jordan River. You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you do, set up some large stones. Put a coat of plaster on them. 3 Write all the words of this law on them. Do it when you have crossed over into the land the Lord your God is giving you. It’s a land that has plenty of milk and honey. The Lord is the God of your people of long ago. He promised you that you would enter the land. 4 After you have gone across the Jordan, set up those stones on Mount Ebal. Put a coat of plaster on them. We’re commanding you today to do that. 5 Build an altar there to honor the Lord your God. Make it out of stones. Don’t use any iron tool on them. 6 Use stones you find in the fields to build his altar. Then offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Sacrifice friendship offerings there. Eat them and be filled with joy in the sight of the Lord your God. 8 You must write all the words of this law on the stones you have set up. Write the words very clearly.”

Curses for Not Obeying the Lord

9 Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, spoke to all the Israelites. They said, “Israel, be quiet! Listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Obey him. Obey his commands and rules that we’re giving you today.”

11 Here are the commands Moses gave the people that same day.

12 You will go across the Jordan River. When you do, six tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people. Those tribes are Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 The other six tribes will stand on Mount Ebal to announce some curses. Those tribes are Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

14 The Levites will speak to all the Israelites in a loud voice. The Levites will say,

15 “May anyone who makes a statue of a god and sets it up in secret be under the Lord’s curse. That statue is made by a skilled worker. And the Lord hates it.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

16 “May anyone who brings shame on their father or mother be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

17 “May anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

18 “May anyone who leads blind people down the wrong road be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

19 “May anyone who treats unfairly outsiders, widows, and children whose fathers have died be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

20 “May anyone who sleeps with his stepmother be under the Lord’s curse. That man brings shame on his father by doing that.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

21 “May anyone who has sex with animals be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

22 “May anyone who sleeps with his sister be under the Lord’s curse. It doesn’t matter whether she is his full sister or his half sister.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

23 “May anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

24 “May anyone who kills their neighbor secretly be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

25 “May anyone who accepts money to kill someone who isn’t guilty of doing anything wrong be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

26 “May anyone who doesn’t honor the words of this law by obeying them be under the Lord’s curse.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

Blessings for Obeying the Lord

28 Make sure you obey the Lord your God completely. Be careful to obey all his commands. I’m giving them to you today. If you do these things, the Lord will honor you more than all the other nations on earth. 2 If you obey the Lord your God, here are the blessings that will come to you and remain with you.

3 You will be blessed in the cities. You will be blessed out in the country.

4 Your children will be blessed. Your crops will be blessed. The young animals among your livestock will be blessed. That includes your calves and lambs.

5 Your baskets and bread pans will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed no matter where you go.

7 Enemies will rise up against you. But the Lord will help you win the battle over them. They will come at you from one direction. But they’ll run away from you in every direction.

8 The Lord your God will bless your barns with plenty of grain and other food. He will bless everything you do. He’ll bless you in the land he’s giving you.

9 The Lord your God will make you his holy people. He will set you apart for himself. He promised to do this. He promised to do it if you would keep his commands and live exactly as he wants you to live. 10 All the nations on earth will see that you belong to the Lord. And they will be afraid of you. 11 The Lord will give you more than you need. You will have many children. Your livestock will have many little ones. Your crops will do very well. All of that will happen in the land he promised to give you. He promised this to your people of long ago.

12 The Lord will open up the heavens. That’s where he stores his riches. He will send rain on your land at just the right time. He’ll bless everything you do. You will lend money to many nations. But you won’t have to borrow from any of them. 13 The Lord your God will make you leaders, not followers. Pay attention to his commands that I’m giving you today. Be careful to obey them. Then you will always be on top. You will never be on the bottom. 14 Don’t turn away from any of the commands I’m giving you today. Don’t turn to the right or the left. Don’t follow other gods. Don’t worship them.

Curses for Not Obeying the Lord

15 But suppose you don’t obey the Lord your God. And you aren’t careful to obey all his commands and rules I’m giving you today. Then he will send curses on you. They’ll catch up with you. Here are those curses.

16 You will be cursed in the cities. You will be cursed out in the country.

17 Your baskets and bread pans will be cursed.

18 Your children will be cursed. Your crops will be cursed. Your calves and lambs will be cursed.

19 You will be cursed no matter where you go.

20 The Lord will send curses on you. You won’t know what’s going on. In everything you do, he will be angry with you. You will be destroyed suddenly and completely. This will happen because you did an evil thing when you deserted the Lord. 21 He will send all kinds of sicknesses on you. He’ll send them until he has destroyed you. He’ll remove you from the land you are entering to take as your own. 22 The Lord will make you sick and very weak. He will strike you with fever and swelling. He’ll send burning heat. There won’t be any rain. The hot winds will completely dry up your crops. All those things will happen until you die. 23 The sky above you will be like bronze. The ground beneath you will be like iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder. It will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

25 The Lord will help your enemies win the battle over you. You will come at them from one direction. But you will run away from them in every direction. All the kingdoms on earth will be completely shocked when they see you. 26 Birds and wild animals will eat up your dead bodies. There won’t be anyone left to scare them away. 27 The Lord will send boils on you, just like the ones he sent on the Egyptians. You will have growths in your bodies and boils on your skin. You will itch all over. No one will be able to heal you. 28 The Lord will make you lose your mind. He will make you blind. You won’t know what’s going on. 29 Even at noon you will have to feel your way around like a blind person in the dark. You won’t have success in anything you do. Day after day you will be robbed and treated badly. No one will be able to save you.

30 You and a woman will promise to marry each other. But another man will take her and rape her. You will build a house. But you won’t live in it. You will plant a vineyard. But you won’t eat a single grape from it. 31 Your ox will be killed right in front of your eyes. But you won’t eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you by force. And you will never get it back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies. No one will be able to save them. 32 Your children will be given to another nation. Day after day you will watch for them to come back. But you will only wear out your eyes. You won’t be able to help your children. 33 A nation you don’t know anything about will eat what you work to produce on your land. You will only be treated badly as long as you live. 34 The things you see will make you lose your mind. 35 The Lord will send painful boils on your knees and legs. No one will be able to heal them. They will cover you from head to toe.

36 The Lord will drive you out of the land. And he will drive out the king you place over yourselves. All of you will go to another nation. You and your people of long ago didn’t know anything about them. There you will worship other gods. They will be made out of wood and stone. 37 You will look very bad to all the nations where the Lord sends you. They will be completely shocked when they see you. They will mock you and make fun of you.

38 You will plant many seeds in your field. But you will gather very little food. Locusts will eat it up. 39 You will plant vineyards and take care of them. But you won’t drink the wine. You won’t gather the grapes. Worms will eat them up. 40 You will have olive trees through your whole country. But you won’t use the oil. The olives will drop off the trees. 41 You will have children. But you won’t be able to keep them. They’ll be taken away as prisoners. 42 Large numbers of locusts will eat up the leaves on all your trees. They will also eat up the crops on your land.

43 Outsiders who live among you will become your leaders. They will rise higher and higher. But you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend money to you. But you won’t be able to lend money to them. They will be the leaders. But you will be the followers.

45 The Lord your God will send all these curses on you. They will follow you everywhere. They’ll catch up with you. You will be under the Lord’s curse until you are destroyed. That’s because you didn’t obey him. You didn’t keep the commands and rules he gave you. 46 These curses will remain as signs and awful judgments against you and your children after you forever. 47 You didn’t serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness when times were good. 48 So he will send enemies against you. You will have to serve them. You will be hungry and thirsty. You will be naked and poor. The Lord will put the iron chains of slavery around your necks until he has destroyed you.

49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away. It will come from the ends of the earth. It will dive down on you like an eagle. You won’t understand that nation’s language. 50 Its people will look mean. They won’t have any respect for old people. They won’t show any kindness to young people. 51 They will eat up the young animals among your livestock. They’ll eat up the crops on your land. They’ll destroy you. They won’t leave you any grain, olive oil or fresh wine. They won’t leave you any calves or lambs. They’ll destroy you. 52 They’ll surround all the cities throughout your whole land. They’ll attack those cities until the high, strong walls you trust in fall down. That’s what will happen to the cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

53 Your enemies will surround you and attack you. They will make you suffer greatly. So you will eat your own children. You will eat the dead bodies of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. 54 There may be a gentle and caring man among you. But he will treat his own brother badly. He’ll be just as mean to the wife he loves and to any of his children who are still alive. 55 He won’t give to a single one of them any part of the dead bodies of his children that he’s eating. It will be all he has left to eat. That’s how much your enemies will make you suffer when they surround all your cities and attack them. 56 There may be a gentle and caring woman among you. She wouldn’t even touch the ground with her feet without first putting her sandals on. But she will not share anything with the husband she loves. She won’t share with her own children either. 57 She will eat what comes out of her body after she has a baby. Then she’ll even eat her baby. She won’t share it with anyone in her family. In her great hunger she’ll plan to eat it in secret. There won’t be anything else for her to eat because the city she lives in will be surrounded. That’s an example of how much your enemies will make you suffer when they are attacking your cities.

58 Be careful to follow all the words of this law. They are written in this scroll. Have respect for the glorious and wonderful name of the Lord your God. If you don’t, 59 he will send terrible plagues on you and your children after you. He’ll send horrible and lasting troubles. He’ll make you very sick for a long time. 60 He’ll bring on you all the sicknesses you were afraid of getting when you were in Egypt. You won’t be able to get rid of them. 61 The Lord will also bring on you all other kinds of sickness and trouble. I haven’t even written those down in this Book of the Law. You will be destroyed. 62 At one time you were as many as the stars in the sky. But there will only be a few of you left. That’s because you didn’t obey the Lord your God. 63 It pleased the Lord to give you success and to cause there to be many of you. But it will please him just as much to wipe you out and destroy you. You will be removed from the land you are entering to take as your own.

64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all the nations. He’ll spread you around from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship statues of gods made out of wood and stone. You and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods. 65 Among those nations you won’t find any peace. There won’t be any place where you can make your home and rest your feet. The Lord will give you minds filled with worry. He’ll give you eyes worn out from looking for help. You won’t have any hope in your hearts. 66 Your lives will always be in danger. You will be filled with fear night and day. You will never be sure you are safe. 67 In the morning you will say, “We wish it were evening!” In the evening you will say, “We wish it were morning!” Your hearts will be filled with fear. The things you see will terrify you. 68 The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships. He’ll send you on a journey I said you should never have to make again. You will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves in Egypt. But no one will buy you.

Obey the Terms of the Covenant

29 Here are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab. The terms were added to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Horeb.

2 Moses sent for all the Israelites. Here is what he said to them.

With your own eyes you have seen everything the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh. You have seen what he did to all Pharaoh’s officials and to his whole land. 3 With your own eyes you saw how the Lord really made them suffer. You saw the signs and amazing things he did. 4 But to this day the Lord hasn’t given you a mind that understands. He hasn’t given you eyes that see. He hasn’t given you ears that hear. 5 Yet the Lord says, “I led you through the desert for 40 years. During that time your clothes didn’t wear out. The sandals on your feet didn’t wear out either. 6 You didn’t eat any bread. You didn’t drink any kind of wine. I did all these things because I wanted you to know that I am the Lord your God.”

7 When you got here, Sihon and Og came out to fight against us. Sihon was the king of Heshbon. And Og was the king of Bashan. But we won the battle over them. 8 We took their land. We gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh as their share.

9 Be careful to obey the terms of this covenant. Then you will have success in everything you do. 10 Today all of you are standing here in the sight of the Lord your God. Your leaders and chief men are here. Your elders and officials are here. So are all the other men of Israel. 11 Your children and wives are here with you too. So are the outsiders living in your camps. They chop your wood and carry your water. 12 All of you are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God. He is making the covenant with you today. He’s giving you his word. 13 Today he wants to show you that you are his people and that he is your God. That’s what he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 I’m making this covenant and the promise that goes along with it. I’m making this covenant with you. 15 You are standing here with us today in front of the Lord our God. And I’m also making this covenant with those who aren’t here today.

16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt. You also know how we passed through other countries on the way here. 17 You saw the statues of their gods made out of wood, stone, silver and gold. The Lord hates those statues. 18 Make sure there isn’t a man or woman among your families or tribes who turns away from the Lord our God. No one must worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that kind of worship doesn’t spread like bitter poison through your whole community.

19 Some people who worship those gods will hear the promise that seals the covenant I’m making. They think they can escape trouble by what they’re saying. They say, “We’ll be safe, even though we’re stubborn and go our own way.” But they will bring trouble on the whole land. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive those people. His great anger will blaze out against them. All the curses I’ve written down in this book will fall on them. And the Lord will erase any mention of them from the earth. 21 He will find those people in all the tribes of Israel and give them nothing but trouble. That will agree with all the curses of the covenant. They are written down in this Book of the Law.

22 Even your children’s children will see the troubles that have fallen on the land. They’ll see the sicknesses the Lord has brought on it. People who come from countries far away will also see those things. 23 The whole land will be burned up. Nothing but salt and sulfur will be left. Nothing will be planted there. Nothing will grow there. In fact, nothing will even start to grow there. The land will be like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim after they were destroyed. The Lord wiped out those cities because he was very angry. 24 All the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to the land? What could have made him so very angry?”

25 And they will hear the answer, “It’s because the people living there have broken the covenant of the Lord. He’s the God of their people of long ago. He made that covenant with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods. They bowed down to them. They hadn’t known anything about those gods before. The Lord hadn’t given those gods to them. 27 So the Lord became very angry with this land. He brought on it all the curses written down in this book. 28 The Lord’s anger blazed out against his people. So he pulled them up out of their land. He threw them into another land. And that’s where they are now.”

29 The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.

Listen to Deuteronomy 27-29
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Deuteronomy 27-29
New International Version

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:

15 “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol(T)—a thing detestable(U) to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”(V)

16 “Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”(W)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

17 “Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.”(X)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

18 “Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”(Y)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

19 “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner,(Z) the fatherless or the widow.”(AA)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

20 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.”(AB)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

21 “Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”(AC)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

22 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.”(AD)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

23 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”(AE)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

24 “Cursed is anyone who kills(AF) their neighbor secretly.”(AG)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

25 “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”(AH)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

26 “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”(AI)

Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”(AJ)

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:

3 You will be blessed(AO) in the city and blessed in the country.(AP)

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.(AQ)

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.(AR)

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)

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.(BL)

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.(BM)

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.(BN)

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.(BO)

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.

Renewal of the Covenant

29 [b]These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab,(FE) in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.(FF)

2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.(FG) 3 With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders.(FH) 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.(FI) 5 Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led(FJ) you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.(FK) 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink.(FL) I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”(FM)

7 When you reached this place, Sihon(FN) king of Heshbon(FO) and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.(FP) 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance(FQ) to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.(FR)

9 Carefully follow(FS) the terms of this covenant,(FT) so that you may prosper in everything you do.(FU) 10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.(FV) 12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 13 to confirm you this day as his people,(FW) that he may be your God(FX) as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 I am making this covenant,(FY) with its oath, not only with you 15 who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.(FZ)

16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.(GA) 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns(GB) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.(GC)

19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing(GD) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”(GE) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive(GF) them; his wrath and zeal(GG) will burn(GH) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot(GI) out their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster,(GJ) according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.(GK)

22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.(GL) 23 The whole land will be a burning waste(GM) of salt(GN) and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,(GO) Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.(GP) 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?(GQ) Why this fierce, burning anger?”

25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.(GR) 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.(GS) 28 In furious anger and in great wrath(GT) the Lord uprooted(GU) them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God,(GV) but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.(GW)

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 28:20 Hebrew me
  2. Deuteronomy 29:1 In Hebrew texts 29:1 is numbered 28:69, and 29:2-29 is numbered 29:1-28.
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Deuteronomy 27-29
King James Version

27 And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:

3 And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

6 Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God:

7 And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.

8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God.

10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,

12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

16 Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

18 Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

20 Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

21 Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

22 Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

23 Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

24 Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

28 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.

11 And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

24 The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long; and there shall be no might in thine hand.

33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

35 The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

36 The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.

38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.

39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.

40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

47 Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:

55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord Thy God;

59 Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.

61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.

63 And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:

67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

29 These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

2 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

3 The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

4 Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.

7 And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

10 Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:

12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:

13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;

15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;

17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)

18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

20 The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

21 And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

22 So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it;

23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?

25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:

26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:

27 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:

28 And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.

29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

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