Deuteronomy 28:1-44
Christian Standard Bible
Blessings for Obedience
28 “Now(A) if you faithfully obey the Lord your God(B) and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today,(C) the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth.(D) 2 All these blessings will come and overtake(E) you, because you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city
and blessed in the country.(F)
4 Your offspring[a] will be blessed,
and your land’s produce,
and the offspring of your livestock,
including the young of your herds
and the newborn of your flocks.(G)
5 Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in
and blessed when you go out.(H)
7 “The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions. 8 The Lord will grant you a blessing on your barns and on everything you do;[b](I) he will bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.(J) 9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people,(K) as he swore to you, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you bear the Lord’s name,(L) and they will stand in awe of you.(M) 11 The Lord will make you prosper abundantly with offspring,[c] the offspring of your livestock, and your land’s produce in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse,(N) the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.(O) You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail;(P) you will only move upward and never downward if you listen to the Lord your God’s commands I am giving you today and are careful to follow them. 14 Do not turn aside to the right or the left from all the things I am commanding you today,(Q) and do not follow other gods to worship them.
Curses for Disobedience
15 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all his commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake(R) you:(S)
16 You will be cursed in the city
and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.
18 Your offspring will be cursed,
and your land’s produce,
the young of your herds,
and the newborn of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in
and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send against you curses, confusion,(T) and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish,(U) because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.(V) 21 The Lord will make pestilence cling to you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.(W) 22 The Lord will afflict you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, burning heat, drought,[d] blight, and mildew;(X) these will pursue you until you perish. 23 The sky above you will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your land into falling[e] dust; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions.(Y) You will be an object of horror(Z) to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, with no one to scare them away.(AA)
27 “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt,(AB) tumors, a festering rash, and scabies, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion,(AC) 29 so that at noon you will grope as a blind person gropes in the dark.(AD) You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.(AE) 30 You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it.(AF) You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.(AG) 33 A people you don’t know will eat your land’s produce and everything you have labored for. You will only be oppressed and crushed continually.(AH) 34 You will be driven mad by what you see. 35 The Lord will afflict you with painful and incurable boils on your knees and thighs—from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.(AI)
36 “The Lord will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone.(AJ) 37 You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.(AK)
38 “You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not moisten your skin with oil, because your olives will drop off. 41 You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will be taken prisoner. 42 Buzzing insects will take possession of all your trees and your land’s produce. 43 The resident alien among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
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