Deuteronomy 28
English Standard Version
Blessings for Obedience
28 “And (A)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you (B)high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and (C)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and (D)blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be (E)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your (F)kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be (G)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord (H)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord (I)will command the blessing on you in your barns and (J)in all that you undertake. (K)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 (L)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And (M)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are (N)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be (O)afraid of you. 11 And (P)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in (Q)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, (R)to give the rain to your land in its season and (S)to bless all the work of your hands. And (T)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you (U)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 (V)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses for Disobedience
15 “But (W)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and (X)overtake you. 16 Cursed shall you be (Y)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord (Z)will send on you curses, confusion, and (AA)frustration in all that you undertake to do, (AB)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make (AC)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 (AD)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought[a] and with (AE)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And (AF)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 (AG)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you (AH)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And (AI)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and (AJ)there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will strike you (AK)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and (AL)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with (AM)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall (AN)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.[b] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 (AO)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. (AP)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. (AQ)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 (AR)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, (AS)but you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad (AT)by the sights that your eyes see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs (AU)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36 “The Lord will (AV)bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you (AW)nor your fathers have known. And (AX)there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become (AY)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. 38 (AZ)You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for (BA)the locust shall consume it. 39 (BB)You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you (BC)shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for (BD)they shall go into captivity. 42 (BE)The cricket[c] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 (BF)The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 (BG)He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. (BH)He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45 (BI)“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be (BJ)a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 (BK)Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he (BL)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 (BM)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, (BN)swooping down like the eagle, a nation (BO)whose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation (BP)who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall (BQ)eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52 “They shall (BR)besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. 53 And (BS)you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, (BT)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will (BU)begrudge food to his brother, to (BV)the wife he embraces,[d] and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, (BW)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 (BX)The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,[e] to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, (BY)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, (BZ)the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all (CA)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 Whereas (CB)you were as numerous (CC)as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And as the Lord (CD)took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will (CE)take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
64 “And the Lord (CF)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and (CG)there you shall serve other gods (CH)of wood and stone, (CI)which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 And (CJ)among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but (CK)the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and (CL)a languishing soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. 67 (CM)In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and (CN)the sights that your eyes shall see. 68 And the Lord (CO)will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that (CP)you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 28:22 Or sword
- Deuteronomy 28:29 Or shall not succeed in finding your ways
- Deuteronomy 28:42 Identity uncertain
- Deuteronomy 28:54 Hebrew the wife of his bosom
- Deuteronomy 28:56 Hebrew the husband of her bosom
Devarim 28
Orthodox Jewish Bible
28 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt give heed diligently unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha, to be shomer and to do all His mitzvot which I command thee today, that Hashem Eloheicha will set thee on high above kol Goyei Ha’Aretz;
2 And all these berakhot shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt give heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha.
3 Baruch atah baIr (blessed shalt thou be in the town), and baruch atah basadeh (blessed shalt thou be in the field, country).
4 Baruch shall be the pri of thy womb, and the pri of thy adamah, and the pri of thy animals, the increase of thy livestock, and the flocks of thy sheep.
5 Baruch shall be thy basket and thy kneading bowl.
6 Baruch atah when thou comest in, and baruch atah when thou goest out.
7 Hashem shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be defeated before thy face; they shall come out against thee derech echad, and flee before thee shivah derakhim.
8 Hashem shall command the brocha upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and He shall bless thee in ha’aretz which Hashem Eloheicha giveth thee.
9 Hashem shall establish thee an Am Kadosh unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt be shomer over the mitzvot of Hashem Eloheicha, and walk in His ways.
10 And all people of ha’aretz shall see that thou art called by the Shem of Hashem; and they shall be afraid of thee.
11 And Hashem shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the pri of thy womb, and in the pri of thy livestock, and in the pri of thy ground, in ha’adamah which Hashem swore unto Avotecha to give thee.
12 Hashem shall open unto thee His otzar hatov, the Shomayim, to give the matar unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt lend unto Goyim rabbim, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 And Hashem shall make thee the rosh, and not the zanav (tail); and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou give heed unto the mitzvot Hashem Eloheicha, which I command thee today, to be shomer to do them;
14 And thou shalt not turn aside from any of the devarim which I command thee today, to the right, or to the left, to go after elohim acherim to serve them.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not give heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha, to be shomer to do all His mitzvot and His chukkot which I command thee today, that all these kelalot (curses) shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Arur shalt thou be in the town, and Arur shalt thou be in the sadeh.
17 Arur shall be thy basket and thy kneading bowl.
18 Arur shall be the pri of thy womb, and the pri of thy adamah, the increase of thy livestock, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Arur shalt thou be when thou comest in, and Arur shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 Hashem shall send upon thee me’erah (curse), mehumah (confusion), and migeret (rebuke), in all that thou settest thine hand unto to do, until thou be shmad, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me.
21 Hashem shall make the dever (plague, pestilence) have deveykus with thee, until He have consumed thee from off ha’adamah, whither thou goest to possess it.
22 Hashem shall strike thee with a shachefet (consumption), and with a kaddachat (fever, Mk 1:31), and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the cherev, and with scorching, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy Shomayim that is over thy head shall be nechoshet, and Ha’Aretz that is under thee shall be barzel.
24 Hashem shall make the matar of thy land powder and dust; from Shomayim shall it come down upon thee, until thou be shmad.
25 Hashem shall cause thee to be defeated before thine enemies; thou shalt go out derech echad against them, and flee shivah derakhim before them; and shalt be an object of horror unto all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And thy nevelah shall be okhel unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of ha’aretz, and no ish shall frighten them away.
27 Hashem will strike thee with the shekhin (boils) of Mitzrayim, and with the tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28 Hashem shall strike thee with shiga’on (insanity), and ivvaron (blindness), and timhon levav (confusion of heart);
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the ivver gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and plundered evermore, and thou shalt have no moshi’a.
30 Thou shalt betroth an isha, and another ish shall lie with her; thou shalt build a bais, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a kerem, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
31 Thine shor shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine chamor shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee; thy tzon shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have no moshi’a.
32 Thy banim and thy banot shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them kol hayom; and there shall be nothing you can do.
33 The pri of thy adamah, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed kol hayamim;
34 So that thou shalt be driven meshuga because of the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
35 Hashem shall strike thee in the birkayim (knees), and in the legs, with shekhin rah (foul boil) that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
36 Hashem shall bring thee, and thy melech which thou shalt set over thee, unto a Goy which neither thou nor Avoteicha have known; and there shalt thou serve elohim acherim, etz va’even (wood and stone). [2Kgs 25:7]
37 And thou shalt become an object of horror, a mashal, and a byword, among kol haGoyim whither Hashem shall lead thee.
38 Thou shalt carry much zera out into the sadeh, and shalt gather but little in; for the arbeh shall devour it.
39 Thou shalt plant kramim, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the yayin, nor gather the grapes; for the tola’at (worm) shall eat them.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy territory, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the shemen; for thine olives shall drop off.
41 Thou shalt father banim and banot, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into shevi (captivity, the golus).
42 All thy trees and pri of thy adamah shall the locust consume.
43 The ger 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 rosh, and thou shalt be the zanav.
45 Moreover all these kelalot shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be shmad; because thou gavest not heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha to be shomer over His mitzvot and His chukkot which He commanded thee;
46 And they shall be upon thee for an ot and for a mofet, and upon thy zera ad olam.
47 Because thou servedst not Hashem Eloheicha with simchah, and with gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which Hashem shall send against thee, in ra’av (hunger, famine), and in tzama (thirst), and in eirom (nakedness), and in choser (want) of all things; and He shall put an ol barzel (yoke of iron) upon thy tzavvar (neck), until He hath made thee shmad.
49 Hashem shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the ketzeh ha’aretz, as swift as the nesher flieth; a nation whose lashon thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not respect the zaken’s person, nor show favor to the na’ar;
51 And he shall eat the pri of thy animals, and the pri of thy adamah, until thou be shmad; which also shall not leave thee either dagan, tirosh, or yitzhar, or the increase of thy livestock, or flocks of thy sheep, until it hath destroyed thee.
52 And it shall besiege thee in all thy she’arim, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trusted, throughout all thy land; and it shall besiege thee in all thy she’arim throughout all thy land, which Hashem Eloheicha hath given thee.
53 And thou shalt eat the pri of thine own womb, the basar of thy banim and of thy banot, which Hashem Eloheicha hath given thee, in the matzor (siege), and in the desperate straits, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee;
54 So that the ish that is sensitive among you, and very refined, his eye shall be hostile toward his brother, and toward his eshet kheyk (wife of his bosom), and toward the remnant of his banim which he shall leave;
55 So that he will not give to any of them of the basar of his banim whom he shall eat; because he hath nothing left him in the matzor (siege), and in the desperate straits, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy she’arim.
56 The sensitive and refined woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, she shall be hostile toward her ish kheyk (husband of her bosom), and toward her ben, and toward her bat,
57 And toward her afterbirth that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her banim which she shall bear; for she shall eat them for choser (want) of all things secretly in the matzor (siege) and desperate straits, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy she’arim.
58 If thou wilt not be shomer to do kol divrei hatorah hazot that are written in this sefer, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Shem, HASHEM ELOHEICHA,
59 Then Hashem will make thy makkot (plagues) extraordinary, and the makkot of thy zera, even makkot gedolot, and of long continuance, and cholayim ra’im (evil sicknesses), and of long continuance.
60 Moreover He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Mitzrayim, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall have deveykus unto thee.
61 Also every choli (sickness), and every makkah (plague), which is not written in the sefer of this torah, them will Hashem bring upon thee, until thou be shmad.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the kokhavim of Shomayim for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of Hashem Eloheicha.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as Hashem rejoiced over you to do you good, to multiply you, so Hashem will rejoice over you to make you shmad, to bring you to nothing; and ye shall be plucked from off the adamah whither thou goest to possess it.
64 And Hashem shall scatter thee among kol ha’ammim, from the one end of ha’aretz even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve elohim acherim, which neither thou nor Avoteicha have known, even etz va’even.
65 And among these Goyim shalt thou find no mano’ach [see Ruth], neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but Hashem shall give thee there a lev rogez (anxious heart), and failing of eyes, and da’avon nefesh (suffering of soul);
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear lailah and yomam, and shalt have none assurance of thy life;
67 In the boker thou shalt say, Would it were erev! And at erev thou shalt say, Would it were boker! For the pachad of thine lev wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
68 And Hashem shall bring thee into Mitzrayim again with oniyyot, by the way whereof I spoke unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for avadim and shefachot, and no ish shall buy you.
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